The vision of the founders of the Constitution was to create an energetic presidential fashion in which the president has enough energy to lead the nation yet be constrained to not threaten the liberty of the people. The lesson many Americans learned from their experience with the British was that liberty is threatened by executive power and safeguarded by legislative power (pg. 3). The framers were cautious of the responsibilities the executive branch would have so that tyranny would be prevented. The Framers created a democracy that prevents any branch from overstepping its constitutionally assigned limits, including the presidents. The framers decision was influenced by their experiences without an executive branch while the British government was under King George III. The …show more content…
He emphasized that energy and unilateral action in the executive are important for a well functioning system. Writing in Federalist No. 70, Hamilton describes that “energy” was written for the expansion of presidential power to uphold "the public happiness". Theodore Roosevelt was the first chief executive to embrace the Hamiltonian position, by transitioning modern presidency to a strong, effective executive. The youthful Roosevelt pursued executive powers to new limits, pushing popular reform policies not supported by Congress. He expedited the Panama Canal construction process, regulating businesses, and broke up trusts that had gained too much market share. Many conservatives worried about Roosevelt overextending his powers, but he claimed that "the executive power was limited only by specific restrictions appearing in the Constitution”. Modern presidents have embraced Theodore Roosevelt’s view, emphasizing more extensive visions of the president’s ability to circumvent congressional
On June 1, 1787 Federal Convention first talked of establishing a new executive branch. James Wilson said that the Executive should consist of a single person. To U.S. citizens today, this is an obvious statement, but it wasn’t at that time. Americans had just won their independence from an autocratic monarch, Britain. They feared that another oppressive leader would rise and try to dictate to the newly independence-gained country. In the book “Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive”, Ray Raphael explains how the founders created the Chief Executive to specifically prevent this from happening.
Clearly, the founders created a type of government that was never seen before and therefore the American people were understandably reluctant to agree to it. They had fought so diligently to remove themselves from monarchic rule and wanted to ensure that the office of presidency did not become one. The founders intended to create a position that wasn’t too powerful, but also energetic and powerful enough to be effective in its duties. America's founders utilized persuasive letters put into local newspapers, The Federalist Papers, and convinced the people of America that the Constitution of the United States was the best way to preserve the ideal way of life by offering insight into the powers, limitations, and the role of the president and
The Creation of the Presidency by Charles C. Thach is a historical analysis of the development of American Constitutional principles. The author begins by stating that the basis for American government is one that balances individual freedom and governmental strength. The moral foundations of American government are founded on the ideas of natural rights, government by contract, consent of the governed, and the right to revolt. However, the Revolutionary War at the time illuminated the need for a strong government that was able to act in times of crisis. This created the idea that government was a necessary evil for the founders. Thach examines the failures and success of State constitutions, and the national legislature to show how limited government was transformed from political theory to positive law in the United States. In politics there is a lingering question of what determines good government, Thach’s analysis on the American system prove that good government must contain energy and limitations.
The President is regarded as the most powerful individual in the United States government nowadays, with powers expressed in the constitution or congressional act, inferred from the constitution, or assumed by himself. While the executive branch appears the most powerful at current times, most framers had thought that legislative branch would possess the most power. In The Federalist No. 51, James Madison expressed his concerns in the inequalities between the three branches; particularly, he stated that, “[i]n republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates”. Most framers did not foresee a future with strong
The framers of the United States of America constitution were all a group of visionaries. They come together and drafted the constitution to address the issues as well as avoiding some dangers in which they foresaw where not only to face the American people then, but even in the years to come. The American constitution was drafted to address key issues such as the freedom of speech, governing and abiding laws, freedom of religion and equal protection by the law. To achieve all this, the framers of the United States of America constitution went ahead and drafted government powers in the three main branches of government; the president, Judiciary and executive.
When our founding father gathered in the warm summer months of 1787 in the city of Philadelphia they penned words that created a government that puts the power in the hands of the people. Our constitution clearly defines the separate powers of our government. Three separate operating branches, executive, legislative and judicial to ensure that with a system of checks and balances, no one branch is allowed too much power. That power was placed into the hands of the people and must remain with an educated nation to ensure that the nation survives as it was intended, “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for common defense, promote general Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our
The United States was founded on the belief that the people run the government: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…” With that said, in order to have a “perfect Union,” we needed to form a government to run said Union. Under this belief we created a system of checks and balances; the three branches are the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch. The executive branch holds the president of the United States and is in charge of enforcing the laws. John Adams was not only a founding father of our government but was also the second president. Although he may not be the greatest president we have ever had, Adams prevented a war with France.
The presidency was formed in the image of George Washington, with the expectation that the person who would be president be astute, modest, honorable, and unbiased (ushistory.org). Many Americans set very high hopes for the president, with needing a person “who represents all the hopes and dreams of Americans” (ushistory.org). With the Executive Branch were it is the largest branch of the federal government as the president who is both head of also the head of state (Arnold 13).
Unlike Congress, the President was the only representative in the federal government elected by the will of the nation. This meant the President, unlike Congress, was accountable to the whole nation rather than constituents of a specific State. Due to this unique relationship with the people he believed the presidency was bestowed with broad executive powers. However, these broad powers from the citizens also came with the responsibility to become an agent of reform for the people. “…The President’s duty is to act so that he himself …[can] do efficient work for the people” (Roosevelt, The Presidency,1913). Likewise, the President’s exclusive ability to act quickly made the Presidency ideally suited to protect the interests of every man and woman. Additionally, Roosevelt’s stewardship theory employed a broad interpretation of constitutional restrictions. He insisted, the President was obligated in the execution of his duty “…to do anything that the needs of the nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by laws”(Roosevelt, The Presidency,1913). He argued a broad interpretation was necessary since the strict interpretation of the Constitution had hindered both the State and federal government’s ability to respond to people’s needs in this new era of big business. “The prime need is to change the conditions which enable
Constitution outlines the separation of powers to prevent an authoritarian from ruling. Of equal significance, it issues checks and balances to scrutinize the amount of dominance of each branch to protect the people's freedom and justice. Outlining the three branches, the first three articles state them as the legislative (the Congress), the executive (the President), and the judicial (the Supreme Court). The Constitution states the primary jurisdictions of each subdivision. The Congress has the power to create new federal laws, while applying and interpreting these laws is the Supreme Court’s role. “He [the President] shall take Care that Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.” (Article II, Section 3) Interpreting this as the executive branch having the pivotal authority to perpetrate the country's laws. John Adams, a standout amongst the most prominent and influential Framers, wrote under the “Publius” pseudonym regarding the U.S. Constitution. In his essay, Federalist No. 47, Adams writes, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” As a result, separating competence ensures that differing points of view will add to discourse of public policy to act in the common interests, which the Constitution's Preamble
Our Founding Fathers were no strangers to the long standing care of a government. Throughout history it has been proven over and over that when any one person is allowed to obtain and stockpile power that he/she becomes the greatest threat to liberty. It is no wonder that the most famous and treasured part of the Constitution, the separation of powers, was molded over hundreds of years.
As a relatively new country less than a quarter of a millennium old, the USA operates with a codified constitution ratified in 1788. This document outlines a national framework of government. Key to this is the notion of a separation of powers, whereby the executive, judiciary and legislature are separate and independent of each other. The president of the United States is named in this document as the head of state and the head of government, namely, the federal executive. The powers and duties of this office are outlined, such as the president 's authority as commander in chief and the right to grant pardons. As a result of this clarity, the evolution of the office of president has taken a different approach to that of prime minister. Like the UK, a strong body of discourse is present even in the face of a codified settlement. That being said, theorists outside the fields of constitutional law interpret the presidency in range of ways.
The presidential system of government was created by the English immigrants who came to the East Coast of the United States to escape the excesses of the crown. When declared independence and wrote its constitution, the objective was to avoid despotism both legislative and executive absolutism. “The first presidential system there is found in the American constitution of 1787. This fundamental law set up a new type of relations between the executive and legislative branches, which resulted in a presidential regime and for this reason, it was felt that the Constitution American presidential system structures the classic, pure or par excellence. ”
The founding fathers constructed the Constitution with the intention of preventing power from becoming unitary or centralized. They established institutions like the separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches. Nevertheless, the Constitution lacked clarity in defining, explicitly, the powers that belonged to each branch, inevitably creating conflict among the branches. A prime example of this conflict is found within the Constitution’s distribution of war powers between the president and Congress. In Article I, section 8, the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, while Article II, section 2 grants the president the power to be Commander in Chief of the military.
In addition, the first president of the United States was George Washington in 1789 to 1792 (G&P 384). In that era, the role and powers of the presidency were limited and smaller than what it is today. The Framers vaguely designed the Constitution in a way that the role of the presidency could expand. The Framers could have never imagined, however, that the president of the United States would have considerably increased his responsibility, power, and impact on our nation. Before the twentieth century the nation