Page:Hamilton Men I Have Painted 198.jpg

MEN I HAVE PAINTED Britain, diminishing nothing, but adding to the fabric the safeguard of the President's veto.

Section 7 of this Constitution reads:—

1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law.

Here we have no less than three checks to hasty legislation. And be it also remarked that to pass a bill into a law over the veto of the President a two-thirds majority of both Houses is requisite. Yours, etc.,

December 9, 1910.