The Office of the American Presidency
The American Constitution is, without dispute, one of the most significant political achievements of western civilization. The authors of the Constitution expounded the philosophy of their own political world, while at the same time leaving a legacy to protect, guide, and shape their country throughout all of history. Although there are many interesting aspects to this very complex document, this paper focuses solely on how the Founding Fathers theoretically envisioned the office of the American Presidency. My approach is not to merely compile a list of presidential powers, as a cursory reading of the constitution provides this information; but to briefly explore why the office was necessary and what role the Founding Fathers intended that a chief executive would fulfill. The truth is that everyone was a little nervous at the idea of having a chief executive. The cause of this uneasiness isn't difficult to understand considering that America had just finished fighting for independence from a single executive in the person of the King of England. The reason a presidential office was written into the design of the Constitution, at all, was a matter of structural necessity.To understand the need for an executive we must first exa
These principles and ideas had an obvious and direct impact on the American Constitution. Since absolute rule rests in no single body but rather is shared among the three, the corrupting influence of unchecked power is abated and stasis is achieved. 3) The President has the power to return a legislative bill but the bill does not become law unless returned by 2/3 of both houses, whereas the King has an absolute negative on both houses of Parliament. " Madison was absolutely right: there is no feature to our Constitution that is more central and critical than the separation of powers. Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle also attested to the soundness of the structure. Some writers suggest that the office may have been designed specifically with George Washington's personal characteristics in mind: strong, noble, honest, fearless, etc. The surviving writings on the design of the Constitution, in the collective form of the Federalist Papers, are replete with examples of the exact powers and structure of the office of the executive. Due to the nature of a mixed constitution, having an executive branch of government was a structural necessity in order to provide the proper balance to the other branches of government. This title is equivalent to the "first general" or "first admiral", whereas the King's power extends to declaring war and raising and regulating military, etc. The Office of the President was created with the purpose of being easily balanced and subordinated by the other two branches of government. A republic may extend over a large region. The most specific design intent of the office was to prevent the accumulation of power into one man. The next task that the Founding Fathers faced, then, was how to structure the office in order that the chief executive could never become too strong or powerful.
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