The Founding of the American Presidency

Please discuss in small groups: If you were designing a new government, what powers would you give the executive branch? Which are easiest to grant? Which would give you most pause? You will hand in notes from your group discussion for participation credit.

Today: What were the framers’ personal experiences with executive power? How did those experiences shape their views of executive power? What were the main controversies over the construction of the Executive branch at the Constitutional Convention?

Framers’ Experiences with the Executive Colonial Governors King George

The Declaration of Independence He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

…continued For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

The Articles of Confederation (1777) No executive branch Execution of laws left to states Members of Congress chosen, paid, and recalled by state legislatures Each state has one vote Congress cannot levy taxes or regulate interstate commerce No national army, only state militias

Debates over the executive branch at Philadelphia Major debates How to elect the president (and how long will he serve)?

Electoral College Electors meet in own states Cast two votes –(12 th Amdt: one for President, one for Vice President) Person with majority of electoral votes becomes president If no majority, House of Representatives (one vote per state delegation) selects president from among top three Electoral College vote-getters

Debates over the executive branch at Philadelphia Major debates How to elect the president (and how long will he serve)? Will there be one or several presidents? Appointments Minor debates The veto power War powers and treaties The ‘executive power’

The Vesting Clauses The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. –Article II, Section 1 All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States –Article I, Section 1

Debates over the executive branch at Philadelphia How to elect the president (and how long will he serve)? Will there be one or several presidents? Appointments The veto power War powers and treaties The ‘executive power’ Impeachment Requesting advice from department heads

Debates and Ambiguities “a single man would feel the greatest responsibility and administer the public affairs best.” (John Rutledge) “the executive magistracy [i]s nothing more than an institution for carrying the will of the Legislature into effect” (Roger Sherman)

More debates among the framers I “wish that at the end of the four years they had made [the president] forever ineligible a second time” (Thomas Jefferson) [I wish the convention had] “given more power to the President and less to the Senate” (John Adams)

Opposition to the executive “Your president may easily become a King. If your American chief be a man of ambition, how easy it is for him to render himself absolute: The army is in his hands, and if he be a man of address it will be attached to him…and what have you to oppose this force? What will then become of you and your rights? Will not absolute despotism ensue?” --Patrick Henry, opposing ratification by the state of Virginia

Hamilton’s Defense “Energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws; to the protection of property…to the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, faction and anarchy.” –Federalist Papers No. 70

Would the Framers Approve of the Modern Presidency?