This provision was inherited from Parliament, through
the colonial legislatures. After a bill has passed both houses it must
be sent to the president for approval. If he approves it, he signs
it; if not, he returns it to the house in which it originated, with
a written statement of his objections, and this statement must be
entered in full upon the journal of the house. The bill is then
reconsidered, and if it obtains a two thirds vote, it is sent,
together with the objections, to the other house. If it there
likewise obtains a two thirds vote, it becomes a law, in spite of the
objections. Otherwise it fails. If the president keeps a bill longer
than ten days (Sundays excepted) without signing it, it becomes a law
without his signature; unless Congress adjourns before the expiration
of the ten days, in which case it fails to become a law, just as if
it had been vetoed. This method of vetoing a bill just before the
expiration of a Congress, by keeping it in one's pocket, so to speak,
was dubbed a "pocket veto," and was first employed by President
Jackson in 1829. The president's veto power is a qualified form of
that which formerly belonged to the English sovereign but has now, as
already observed, become practically obsolete.
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