Harvard Historical Monographs No. 1 6396,60 THE VETO POWER ITS ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION IN THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. AMONG the many subjects in the constitutional development of the United States on which no formal treatise has been written, none seems more to deserve the attention of a scholar than that chosen by Mr. Mason and here presented as the first number of the Harvard Historical Monographs. The veto power is the most important of the institutions connecting the national executive with the legislature; the provision for a revision by an enlarged majority of the legislature is original in the United States; the vetoes have appertained to some of the most interesting episodes of American history; the power is in frequent exercise, yet has of late been somewhat disputed. In a work of this kind, based on records sometimes defective and usually badly indexed, perfection is almost impossible. The greatest pains have, however, been taken to make the list of vetoes complete. In the Report made to the Senate in 1886, by the Senate Committee on Printing, there are printed, with some other matter, two hundred and thirty-seven veto messages, which were supposed by the Committee to include all that had ever been rendered. Mr. Mason has discovered ten additional vetoes, to which reference is made in appendix A; and he has added references to one hundred and eighty-six messages submitted since the date of the report. The Editor's function has been that of advice, suggestion, and revision; the labor of preparation is entirely Mr. Mason's own. All important points of opinion have been discussed between us, but in every case Mr. Mason has stated his own views and assumes all responsibility for them. Although the work deals with political subjects, many of which are still subjects of debate, both |