Is There Really A Balance Of Powers In Our Government

Most of the specifications for the executive branch in the Constitution, other than how he is to be elected, have to deal with the interactions between Congress and the President. The president can (fill in the blank) but only if (this part) of Congress approves. The powers of the president have been interpreted widely so that he has more power than I believe the Framers intended. They wanted him to be able to check Congress with veto power and be the head of the military. However, I think that presidents nowadays have too much power. They are active in trying force their policy agenda through Congress, manage foreign relations, and act as the administrative head of the entire nation. The textbook lays it out well in, "The vast size of the executive branch and the number and complexity of decisions that must be made each day pose a challenge for the White House.” (316) In order to deal with the stresses put on the executive branch, there are thousands of employees that work to give the president the information that he needs to make decisions. He has advisors, cabinet members, legislative liaisons; the list goes on and on, but he is the person who actually gets to make all of the choices. The President is limited in some ways and given more power in other ways by the structure laid out for him in the Constitution, and evolved to be what it is now.

This branch, however, does not have all the power. There is a system put into place by the founding fathers called checks and balances. This system was though up with one goal in mind, to allow near equal flow of power

The executive branch of the Unites States government consists of the President, Vice President, Executive Office of the President (EOP), and the Cabinet (Citation). The President is the highest official of the Executive branch. The powers of the President are wide-ranging and highly substantial but were also drafted in the constitution to be limited by the other two branches of government. The remaining branches of government are the Legislative branch and the Judicial branch. There functions of all the branches are interrelated and the restraints on the amount of power each reserves are also coordinated. This correlation involves the system of checks and balances which was implemented by the framers of the Constitution. The President, as

The main breaking point between the President and Congress was in the Vietnam war. This war sparked a debate on who has the right to declare war, and who has the right to only send advisory troops. Only Congress has the right to declare war, the President can only send advisory troops to other countries. This is a very controversial topic because many people think that the President can declare war, but they have to ask the Congress first. Another convincing reason on why Congress is more powerful that the President is the fact that Congress can make laws and the President has no say. Laws are the outline of America, and they are the only thing keeping crime from all streets in all states across America. Those are only two reasons why Congress is more important to America than the President. All of these powers are stated in Article 1 of the Constitution and the powers of the President are listed in Article 2 of the Constitution. Some people still disagree, though, they think that the President has more rights than

Decisions that presidents had made previously with little congressional participation. Under Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Congress is granted responsibility for caring out their powers as well as all other powers in the Constitution. This gives them the constitutional right to establish certain procedural implements for war proceedings. Thus, the central purpose of the War Powers Resolutions to restrain the president from unilaterally deploying U.S. Armed Forces. Constant with this intent, legislation imposed the president to report and consult with congress. More notably, it provides congressional supervision by permitting congress to force troop

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution assigns Congress the power to declare war. The President, meanwhile, derives the power to direct the military after a Congressional declaration of war from Article II, Section 2, which names the President Commander-in-Chief

My thoughts about the power between Congress and The Presidency I think it’s all about balance. We look to Congress and The Supreme Court to lead our government and The President to be the head of our country to make hard decisions that sometimes lead our country into war. With that said neither one at the same time should have too much power we don’t want a dictatorship and our constitution was made to give the President the freedom to be great leaders. It's all about balance and doing what’s best for our country with both Congress and The

The Constitution is supposed to divide war powers between the president and Congress, but in today’s society that has not always been the case. We live in a country with competing views, but our Constitution was created through disagreement. While the Constitution is a source of cherished and unifying political ideas, it can provoke some of the most intense quarrels because of its principles and protections. It is also debated and applied to present circumstances daily. To get back to the presidential power argument, President Barack Obama sent United States military into combat without the consent from Congress. “As a presidential candidate in 2007, Senator Obama stated, “The President does not have power under the constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation” (Yoo). President Barack Obama announced four years later, that he was acting on his constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations as the commander in chief/chief executive by the intervention with Libya. Throughout our history, neither presidents nor Congress have carried out the beliefs that the constitution requires a declaration of war before the U.S can allow for the military to act. “We have forced abroad more than 100 times but declared war in only five cases: The War of 1812, the

Checks and balances mean the government is divided into separate distinct branches and each branch has its own specific job and responsibility. *6 These branches of government include the Executive Branch, who’s power is vested in the President and its main job is to enforce and carry out laws written by congress. Next is the Legislative Branch who’s power is vest in House of Representatives and Senate, who make up the United States Congress and their main duty, is to make laws or change existing ones. Finally, the Judiciary Branch made up of the Supreme Court their job is to interpret laws presented to them from Congress. This system works by giving each branch certain powers over the other branches, thus preventing any one branch from gaining too much power over the others.

The constitution splits the power given to national government into three branches, which are separate from each other: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The separation of powers was based on the ideas of Montesquieu, with him ‘L’esprit de lois’ which means the spirit of the law. The executive plays the role of administrating law. The president does this in many ways , for example he; executes federal laws and programs, conducts foreign policy , commands the armed forces, negotiates treaties and other such roles. Checks and balances another main factor of the constitution comes in here, as the people get to keep a check on the president every 4 years with the presidential election, which stops any tyranny of powers. This can also be seen in another branch of government. The legislature passes law, this is done through congress. Congress is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Its roles include;

During the years of 1787 and 1789 American citizens had talked about the tough task these delegates had to accomplish, which was drafting the composed Constitution. The Constitution was questioned because delegates wondered if this Constitution would take the state's power and give the national government too much power? They also asked, would this allow the balance of liberty,equality, and justice to endure amongst each individual state government? As an Anti-Federalist we have a hard time deciding if we should just turn into one united republic nation or should each state stay independent inside of the thirteen colonies and their state government. Many were concerned if a new national government would be able to govern this new nation correctly.

One of the biggest constitutional conflicts between Congress and the President is their war power. Congress is the only branch of government capable of declaring war and financially supporting and raising the Armed Forces, while the President holds the position of Commander of Chief during war. This makes the President in control of all branches of the Armed Forces.

one of the expressed powers of congress is the ability to declare war. This is so that we can react fast and be able to quickly declare war should we have to. there are other ways the United States can declare war congress has done it 11 times in the history of United States.

Congress and the president use their powers to check and balance each other. One power of Congress is the ability to declare war. However, Congress generally gives the president control during war time. Because of this, the president is able to acquire more power over the war while Congress can do little if they have already given their approval. After the Vietnam War, in which Presidents Johnson and Nixon continued to wage despite a divided Congress[i]; they decided that the Constitution did not warrant the president to have the power to declare war, so they passed the War

“Congress has a portion of the war power because the members of Congress come from the several states and have close ties to all the people. The idea was that by splitting up the war power, the country would not go to war unless both constituencies – meaning the whole country – supported war.”("Understanding the Constitution of the United States"). Only way for a war to happen is if congress deems it reasonable, subordinating the executive branch.