from Harper’s Weekly October 27, 1866
From The New-York Times November 3, 1866:
The President and the People.
That the dominant sentiment of the country differs at this time more widely than ever from the position of the President, is proven beyond dispute by the result of the late elections. The President, by his messages to Congress, and by his speeches upon his late tour, has given the people every opportunity to comprehend fully his policy. He has not only stated it repeatedly in definite terms, but he has enforced it by all the arguments which he could command from the Constitution, from the principles of reason, and from the grounds of statesmanship and the public welfare. He has been thoroughly in earnest in the matter, and has himself unquestionably been governed by the reasons which he has brought to bear upon others, and through which he has attempted to convince his opponents. But neither Congress, which was demonstrated by the votes, nor the people, as has been shown by the elections, appear to have been affected by the President’s arguments, or, at least they have not been affected in such a way as to bring them to the conclusions at which he is firmly anchored. On the contrary, the divergence between them has been steadily growing greater, until to-day the policy of the Administration seems hopeless of popular triumph in any State of the Union, if we except the State of Kentucky.
The editorial goes on to argue that the Legislative branch of the federal government is more powerful than the Executive as shown by Congress overriding the president’s vetoes. There was even talk of impeaching the president. The Times called on Mr. Johnson to act as a statesman and accept the people’s vote and work with Congress by trying to conform his policy to the legislature’s.
… On a hundred occasions he has said, “The people are always right.” It can, therefore, be no violence to his principles or his character, to listen to their voice and obey it. He held out against Congress last session, because he believed the people were with him. He held on his course through the Summer, because he saw no sufficient reason to change it. He held on after the earlier elections in the Fall, because he believed the later and more important ones would result in his favor. But after he has heard from the Eastern, Western and Central States – after he hears from New-York and New-Jersey and Illinois and the other States that vote this month, he can have no shadow of a doubt as to the popular will; and he will only justify his record in voluntarily recognizing that it is not the Executive but the people who’s right it is to rule.
