Glenn Beck - Miracles and Massacres - True and Untold Stories of the Making of America

A. Only in cases of rebellion by our own citizens, or invasion of the country by an enemy; when the public danger is so great as to require persons to be kept in prison, who might otherwise be set at liberty. As soon as this extreme danger is past, the right of Habeus Corpus must be immediately restored.

Q154. Is this a very great and important privilege, and ought all Americans to guard it with the greatest care?

A. It is one of the greatest rights of a freeman—and Americans must never surrender it, under any pretext, if they value and would preserve their liberty.

Q155. May a man’s children be punished by law for his offence?

A. In some countries, where a man has been guilty of treason, (that is making war against the Government) a law is passed called a bill of attainder , by which his children are prevented from being heirs to him or to any other person; and, if he belonged to what in those countries is called the nobility, and his children would have belonged to it too, they are prevented; nor can they nor their children, nor their children’s children, recover this privilege, till an act is passed for that purpose. No such law can be made in this country; it is expressly forbidden by the Constitution.

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Q181. Who executes the laws which Congress have made, that is, who takes care that every body shall obey the laws?

A. The President of the United States.

Q182. Can he make the law?

A. Not at all. These two powers, of making law, and executing law, are kept by the Constitution, entirely separate; the power that makes the law cannot execute it, and the power that executes the law cannot make it. (The one of these powers is called the Legislative , and the other is called the Executive power.)

Q183. Is there any advantage in this?

A. Certainly; it is the great safeguard of freedom; because, if the one makes oppressive laws , the other may refuse to execute them; or, if the one wishes to do tyrannical acts , the other may refuse to make a law for them.

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Q210. Does the President take any oath before he enters upon his office?

A. Yes.

Q211. What is an oath?

A. It is a solemn calling upon God, who knows the hearts of all men, and will call every man to account for his conduct in this world, to bear witness that what a man says is true, or that what he promises he means to perform.

Q212. What is the President’s oath of office?

A. It is in these words—“I do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States; and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

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Q231. Does he know what is the state of the nation better than the Members of Congress?

A. Yes; his office is such that he has a better opportunity of knowing it. Each Member of Congress resides only in one State, but the President resides at a spot in the middle of them all. It is the duty of all officers below him, to send reports of the various affairs in which they are employed, to one or other of the Heads of Departments, and these lay all the knowledge they thus obtain, before the President for his direction and assistance in the many and great duties he has to perform. He is, therefore, of all persons, best acquainted with the general concerns of this nation.

Q232. When does he lay this information before Congress.

A. He makes a very full statement of it when they first meet, in what is usually called the President’s Speech ; and from time to time, while the two Houses are met, he sends to each of them messages , in which he gives more particular statements than he could do in his first general speech.

Q233. Suppose Congress wish to know from the President something which he has not told them in his speech or messages, may they call upon him to communicate it?

A. Yes, and if he does not think that the public good requires it to be kept secret, he always answers the call, and gives them the knowledge they desired, if he can do so.

Q234. Does he do more than communicate information to the Congress?

A. Yes; his duty is also to recommend to them such things as he thinks will be for the advantage of the country.

Q235. Are they obliged to do as he advises?

A. No. They pay respectful attention to what he says to them, and listen to the reasons he gives in favor of the measures he recommends, but they are at full liberty to follow their own judgments in all cases.

Q236. Is it to be desired that Congress should always comply with the advice of the President?

A. No; for then his advice would, in time, come to have the authority of a command; it would be the President and not Congress who made the laws; and the liberty of the country would be in the greatest danger. There is no more dangerous despot than one who can make his will obeyed, and yet preserve the forms of a free government. August Caesar ruled the whole Roman Empire with absolute sway, yet did every thing by resolves of the Senate, as if Rome was free.

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Q245. What do you understand by a Court?

A. A place where a Judge sits to hear and determine causes according to law.

Q246. Are Courts necessary?

A. Certainly. Wherever laws are made there must be some way of determining when they have been disobeyed, and of causing those who disobey them to be punished. This is the use of a Court and of a Judge. When one person believes that another has broken the laws, to his injury, or to the injury of the public, he may cause that person to appear before a Judge and have it determined by witnesses, whether he has broken the laws or not; and if he has, he is forced to suffer such a punishment as the law directs.

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Q264. How are the Judges of the Courts of the United States appointed?

A. By the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Q265. How long do they remain in office?

A. During good behavior; that is, until they resign their office or are turned out of it for some great offence.

Q266. Why are not Judges elected from time to time, like Members of the House of Representatives and Senators? and why may they not be removed from their offices unless they are proved to be guilty of great offences?

A. If Judges held their places at the mere good pleasure of the people, they would be greatly tempted to act in a partial and improper manner in order to please those who chose them to office, and to keep their favor; but when they know that no man or number of men can turn them out of office so long as they do their duty, they administer justice without fear and with an equal regard to all who ask it.

Q267. Why then should not Legislators hold their office in the same way?

A. Because they make the laws, while Judges only explain and apply them; it would be very dangerous to liberty to give our law makers power for life; they require restraint lest they should become our tyrants;—therefore their time of office is made short, so that if the people thought them unwise or unfaithful they may refuse to give them the office again.