Quote:
Originally Posted by Teak
The fact that only only specific job assigned to the President, by the Constitution, is "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" kind of speaks volumes in that regard.
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No, it does not
"The supremacy of the civil over the military authority I deem [one of] the essential principles of our Government, and consequently [one of] those which ought to shape its administration." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801.
"The freest governments in the world have their army under absolute government. Republican form and principles [are] not to be introduced into government of an army." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes Concerning the Right of Removal from Office, 1780. Papers 4:282
"[A commander who conducts a] great military contest with wisdom and fortitude [will] invariably [regard] the rights of the civil power through all disasters and changes." --Thomas Jefferson: Address to George Washington, 1783.(*) Papers 6:413
"Instead of subjecting the military to the civil power, [a tyrant will make] the civil subordinate to the military. But can [he] thus put down all law under his feet? Can he erect a power superior to that which erected himself? He [can do] it indeed by force, but let him remember that force cannot give right." --Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774.(*) ME 1:209, Papers 1:134
"No military commander should be so placed as to have no civil superior." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Smith, 1801. FE 8:29