The Strict Constructionist View Of The Presidency

Taft knew his techniques would be different from Roosevelt. Unlike Roosevelt Taft did not believe in stretching his presidential powers. In foreign affairs Taft pursued an active role in Latin America. Taft thought of the idea of a World court to deal with issues all over the world. Domestic issues included Taft shunning many progressive republicans by defending the Payne-Aldrich act which continued high tariff taxes. A trade agreement with Canada was pushed through congress with Taft’s help, but unfortunately the Canadians rejected it.

Another very notable role of the President also outlined in Article II. Section 2. of the Constitution and reads, “He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court(http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html). It essentially gives the President power to make treaties with foreign nations however, two-thirds of Congress must be in agreement with the decision. Although the President, or the Executive Branch can be interpreted as the most authoritative arm of government, its powers are still limited and restricted by the process of checks and balances. Each branch of government has some governance over the other two divisions. For instance, just as it is outlined above, the President can nominate Ambassadors and Judges of the Supreme Court but the decision must be upheld by Congress. In other words, under the "Advice and Consent clause the appointed member must be sworn in by the Senate. Again, this is an example of how the system of checks and balances limits the powers of the President.

In the article, “Unilateral Action and Presidential Power: A Theory,” Terry M. Moe and William G. Howell, two political science instructors from Stanford University, investigate a source of presidential power, which is the president’s capability to act individually and make his own law, that has been unacknowledged yet essential to presidential leadership that it defines how the modern presidency is distinctively modern. The authors’ purpose in the article is to outline a theory of this feature of presidential power by arguing that the president’s powers of unilateral action, which is developed from the ambiguity of the contract, are strengths in American politics since they are not mentioned in the constitution. They also claim that presidents push the ambiguity of the contract to make their powers grow and that Congress and the courts would not be able to stop them (Moe and Howell, 1999, p. 1-3).

We all know the president as the leader of our country, but we never really consider the many things that encompasses. He must be a Chief of State, a Chief Executive, a Commander in Chief, a Chief Diplomat, a Chief Legislator, and other various smaller roles. The President has many roles to take on and must act as all of them possibly in any given week or day. Taking a look at four random weeks in The President’s schedule I am going to identify examples of the president executing these roles, explaining why he was more active in certain roles, and why some roles are absent during these weeks.

When the Constitution was first written by America’s founding fathers, they intended for the executive branch to serve the nation’s citizenry by keeping their best interests at heart, but stated that in no way should this branch be more powerful than any other—it be constantly checked and balanced by the legislative and judicial branches.. In James Madison’s Federalist Number 48, he states that in a representative republic, “the executive magistracy is carefully limited; both in the extent and the duration of its power”1. The founding fathers never intended for the role of President of the United States

The government holds a crucial status to its citizens, executive branch specifically, is overlooked to symbolize leadership. Nowadays, the president’s office is believed to exemplify the values of the American people. There are certain powers allocated to the president by the United States Constitution, however; the responsibility and vacancy of the President tend to evolve from one president to the next. Characteristics of presidents and their effect on political decisions has beneficial aspects

The president of the United States is tasked with my roles and responsibilities to the citizens of this nation. In the early beginnings the role of the president was far less chaotic and bogged down as it is today. The twentieth century marked a beginning for the presidential cabinet to take on new roles and wear many, may different hats. The president of the United States, although has limitations, also has many powers and duties to uphold. The president is both the head of the federal government and the chief of state. Throughout history the office of the president has taken on a form of its own. Article II of the Constitution is vague as to the executive powers of the presidency, however, over time, from both learning and observing, the president has been able to define the roles and responsibilities and perform his duties in a manner that is faithfully executed.

The position of president has evolved in the almost quarter millennium since the framers created the Constitution. The main issues facing the framers included the position’s structure, independence, and power. Although the modern presidency is different from the framers’ design, they would approve of it, since the concerns that the framers had with the executive still have been prevented. When creating the presidency, one issue the framers decided quickly was the structure, particularly having one president. This satisfied the needs of both the Conservative and Radical Republicans, by allowing for quick action, while still providing clear accountability.

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

Our nation began in 1776 with the first elected president as George Washington. Since then we have had forty-two other leaders take on the role of being the president of the United States of America. Every four years we elect a new president and each president that is elected can run again and serve up to two terms as a total of eight years. The President of the United States is considered one of the world's most powerful people, leading the world's only contemporary superpower. The role includes being the commander-in-chief of the world's most expensive military and leading the nation with the largest economy. The office of the president holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad. The power includes execution of federal law, alongside

The views of the presidency by the first sixteen presidents varied widely but all of their actions set precedents for their successors to use, expand, or even curtail the power of the office. Some believed in the Whig theory of strict adherence to the constitution, while others believed the president was the steward of the people with a loose interpretation of it. The power of the office expanded through the years, however it only expanded as far as the public and congress allowed.

In this paper we will compare the formal and informal powers if the President and we will explore how and why the Presidential powers have increased over time. The history of the Presidency is an account of aggrandizement; one envisions, today, a President with far reaching power, however, when looking at the Constitution alone we find a President with significant limits. Is the President of the United States the most powerful person in the world or merely a helpless giant?

The modern presidency has in a sense become a double-edged sword in that presidents have become beneficiaries of anything positive that can be attributed to government, but also can be blamed for anything bad occurring in society. Quite simply, the modern president has become the center of our political system (The Modern Presidency, 2004). The men who have dealt with this double-edged sword known as the modern presidency have often walked a very fine line between effectiveness and ineffectiveness, but all have attempted to use their power in one way or another.

The presidency occupies a unique position in all systems of government including the American system of government. The formal powers and the constitutional position occupied by the institution of the presidency are at the core of all national and international politics (Alexandrova & Timmermans, 2013). The President can serve as Commander-in-chief, nominate and appoint ambassadors, just to name a few of the powers of office. However, there is another power that is often overlooked by most, the power of agenda setting. The Constitution does not directly state this power, but it is heavily implied. This paper scrutinizes the institution of the presidency in line with agenda-setting literature. The agenda setting process relates to a series of streams, circumstances, or activities within public policy institutions and processes. The agenda setting process has three streams that incorporate the problem stream, the policy stream, and the politics stream. The problem stream relates to potential policy problems that may have different magnitudes attached to them. The policy stream associates with an agglomeration of potential solutions to policy problems (Eshbaugh-Soha, 2010). Additionally, the politics stream links to those policy issues and solutions that

Although it is often said that the President of the United States holds the most powerful office in the world, this does not mean that he is able to decide very much for himself. The American Constitution, which was adapted in 1789, clearly states the Separation of Powers. Thus, the president makes up only one third of the government, namely the executive branch. He is also controlled by a complex system of checks and balances, which makes sure that he (or any of the other branches, for that matter) does not become too powerful. We will now have a look at the different problems which may be facing a recently elected president, and then discuss to what extent his powers are important.