Breach of Duty Quotes
Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, tried his hand as a gun manufacturer early in the history of the new nation. He persuaded President Thomas Jefferson that he could manufacture muskets with interchangeable parts in an era where each gun was made uniquely and there were no “spare parts.” So Whitney was the first of the American Defense Contractors. He was also the first to fail to deliver on his contract. His guns were years late and when they were finally delivered, they were very expensive and worse, not very good. The reason that this quotation is cited is that while Irvine was trying to recover the taxpayer’s money, Whitney visited the Secretaries of State and War as well as President Madison and members of Congress. The result was to give Whitney another chance and another big order for 15,000 guns. Even Whitney later admitted that these were not very good. Some argue that this quotation shows that nothing has changed much in military procurement and defense spending.
The Slavery issue was so contentious that many Northern Congressmen had just given up on the abolitionist cause or never agreed with it even though in many areas of the country the majority of their constituents supported abolition.
This article of impeachment is quoted often because it shows that criminal activity or violation of a law was not required for impeachment. The time was close to the adoption of the Constitution and presumably reflected sentiment of the founders. Chase however was acquitted as the Senate did not agree that the charges had been proven.
Commenting on a rumor that President Richard Nixon had been a womanizer while in office:
This was one of the many cases of blatant corruption Seabury found in New York that were politically connected with Tammany Hall. Farley was not only the Sheriff of New York, but was also the head of the Tammany Hall political machine. Governor Roosevelt removed him from his position as Sheriff, but did not have the legal authority to purge him from Tammany Hall where Farley stayed as leader, but organized a round of testimonial dinners where he was the “guest of honor” that was paid for and attended by most New York businessmen and politicians. It was however, the beginning of the end of Tammany Hall as the voters finally ousted the Tammany Hall mayor and overall reform followed.
The king summoned all his judges before him and stated that since they were his surrogates, he could remove cases at will from their jurisdiction and decide them himself. Sir Edward Coke, a leading jurist of the day, dissented and urged that since his Majesty was not learned in the law, he should leave legal matters to his judges and lawyers.
