THIRTEENTH ADMINISTRATION, JULY 10, 1850, TO MARCH 4, 1853–2 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS. Millard Fillmore, (acting) President, by death of Taylor-no Vice President. CABINET. Daniel Webster, Mass., Secretary of State. John J. Crittenden, Ky., Attorney General. FOURTEENTH ADMINISTRATION, MARCH 4, 1853, To MARCH 4, 1857. Franklin Pierce, N. H., President. Wm. R. King, of Ala., who was elected Vice President with Mr. Pierce, but died before he took his seat; and there was no Vice President during Pierce's administration. CABINET. William L. Marcy, N. Y., Secretary of State. FIFTEENTH ADMINISTRATION-MARCH 4, 1857, To James Buchanan, Pa., President. CABINET. Lewis Cass, Mich., and Jeremiah S. Black, Pa., Secretaries of State. Howell Cobb, Ga., Philip F. Thomas, and John A. Dix, N. Y., Secretaries of the Treasury. John B. Floyd, Va., and Joseph Holt, Ky., Secretaries of War. Isaac Toucey, Ct., Secretary of the Navy. Jacob Thompson, Miss., Secretary of the Interior, Aaron V. Brown, Tenn., Joseph Holt, Ky., and Horatio King, Postmasters General. Jeremiah S. Black, Pa., and Edwin M. Stanton, Pa., Attorneys General. SIXTEENTH ADMINISTRATION, MARCH 4, 1861, TO APRIL 12, 1865—4 YEARS, 1 month, and 8 days. Abraham Lincoln, Ill., President. Hannibal Hamlin, Me., Vice-President, first term, and Andrew Johnson, Tenn., Vice-President, second term. CABINET. William H. Seward, N. Y., Secretary of State. Salmon P. Chase, Ohio, Wm. P. Fessenden, Me., Hugh McCulloch, Ind., Secretaries of the Treasury. Simon Cameron, Pa., Edwin M. Stanton, Pa., Secretaries of War. Gideon Welles, Conn., Secretary of the Navy. John P. Upsher, Ind., Secretary of the Interior. Montgomery Blair, Md., William Dennison, O., Postmasters General. Edward Bates, Mo., James Speed, Ky., Attorneys General. SEVENTEENTH ADMINISTRATION, APRIL 15, 1865, TO MARCH 4, 1869. Andrew Johnson, acting President. No Vice President. CABINET. William H. Seward, N. Y., Secretary of State. Hugh McCulloch, Ind., Secretary of the Treasury. Edwin M. Stanton, Pa., Ulysses S. Grant, Ill., and J. M. Schofield, Secretaries of War. Gideon Wells, Conn., Secretary of the Navy. James Harlan, Iowa, Orville H. Browning, Ill., Secretaries of the Interior. James Speed, Ky., Henry Stanberry, Ohio, Wm. M. Evarts, N. Y., Attorneys General. William Dennision, Ohio, Alexander W. Randall, Wis., Postmasters General. EIGHTEENTH ADMINISTRATION, MARCH 4, 1869. CABINET. *Elihu B. Washburne, Ill., Secretary of State. Hamilton Fish N. Y., †Alexander T. Stewart, N. Y., Secretary of Treasury. George S. Boutwell, Mass., 66 John A. Rawlins, Secretary of War. Adolph E. Borie, Penna., Secretary of the Navy. * Resigned a few days after his appointment. Disqualified on account of his mercantile pursuits. A law of 1792 forbids a merchant from accepting the position. CHAPTER XIV. United States Courts. 1. UNDER this caption we need make but a few general remarks; for, under the appropriate titles of the dif ferent kinds of courts, we have treated of each, with considerable detail. The legal tribunals created by acts of Congress, and consequently called United States Courts, are known by the names of the United States Supreme Court, the Circuit Courts, the District Courts, and the Court of Claims. To these must be added the local courts in the District of Columbia, and the Territorial Courts. The former are permanent institutions, as much so as the Circuit or District Courts. But the latter are temporary; designed to last only during the time the Territorial government lasts; for when the Territory is admitted as a State, its former government ceases to exist; and as the courts are a part of the government, they also pass away; and State courts are created in their places. 2. These brief remarks are merely introductory to the four following chapters, in which the reader will find a fuller account of the United States courts; and we hope a better understanding of that branch of the government denominated the Judiciary. CHAPTER XV. Supreme Court of the United States. 1. WE have before stated that the government of the United States was divided into three branches or great departments, the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiciary. The two former we have already described. We come now to the third, which although the last, is by no means the least part of the great machine by which the people are governed, and their rights protected. When our government is spoken of, in a figurative sense, as an "arch," the Judicial Department is very appropriately styled, "the key stone of the arch;" for as the arch would fall without the key stone, so would our form of government fall without the Judicial branch; for in all cases of dispute or disagreement as to what the Constitution means, or how the laws should be construed and interpreted, we look to the Judicial decisions for the settlement of all such questions. 2. And especially do we look to the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States; for it is the highest tribunal in the nation. Its decisions are final, for there is no superior tribunal to which questions or causes can be taken; and when it has, in due form, declared how the Constitution must be understood, or how the laws should be interpreted and applied, this decision settles the matter and becomes the law of the land, as to the questions involved in the decision. |