The United States Of America

The Constitution And Democracy

President Of The United States
President of the United States, the principal officer of the executive branch of the federal government. The Constitution Of The United States provides that the "executive Power" of the federal government "shall be vested in a President." Therefore, the president is the principal officer of the executive branch of the government. Two other branches of the federal government--the legislative and the judicial--are constitutionally equal. But the president, who resides and works at the White House in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., has almost always been regarded as the most powerful figure in the government and as the leader of the nation.

The presidency enjoys a tradition of success in mastering challenge and change. Momentous developments have been initiated and directed into constructive channels by the president. The founding of the republic, the rise of democratic suffrage, and the emergence of the Union from the crucible of civil war are rightly identified with the respective presidencies of Washington, Jackson, and Lincoln. Social reforms of the 20th century and the nation's advent to the forefront of world affairs are linked with the administrations of Wilson and the Roosevelts. Nevertheless, the presidency has also known policy failures and political and personal scandals. Holders of the office have been both vilified and lampooned. Two presidents (A. Johnson and Clinton) were formally impeached; a third (Nixon) resigned before submitting to that process. 

Creation of the Presidency. 
In establishing the presidency the Founding Fathers had no precise models to follow. The earliest American executive, the colonial governor, had come to be regarded as the enemy of liberty, and the reigning British monarch, George III, as a symbol of tyranny. Under the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789), no separate executive existed. The Congress of the Confederation exercised all executive authority through committees and special agents, an arrangement that the Founding Fathers considered unsatisfactory. In the states, under typical constitutions established during the Revolution, the executive was weak. He served for one or two terms, was barred from reelection, and shared key powers with the legislature. New York and Massachusetts, whose governors were endowed with strong powers, were exceptions. Widespread abuses by the state legislatures in the period after the Revolution and the sharp decline in prestige of the Confederation Congress fostered a general disposition among the framers of the Constitution to create a strong executive that would balance the legislature.

Framing of the Constitution 
In looking about for ideas applicable to a new national executive, the founders turned to the New York Constitution of 1777, where the governorship had several attractive features. The governor was not a creature of the legislature but was chosen outside it for a term of three years, and there was no limit on the number of terms that could be served.

The Constitution's framers were also influenced by political writers such as John Locke, Montesquieu, and Sir William Blackstone. All three theorists advocated a system of separation of powers, or strong and separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Montesquieu also advocated certain interaction among the three branches, permitting each to exert "checks and balances" against the others. These systems of divided governmental power provided bulwarks against tyranny and appealed to the framers.

Constitutional Provisions 
The members of the Constitutional Convention settled for a single chief executive, chosen not by Congress but by a special body, the Electoral College . The president was to serve for four years, with indefinite eligibility for reelection to the office. The president must be a "natural born Citizen" and at least 35 years old.

The principle of separation of powers was applied in the sense that an executive, legislature, and judiciary were provided for, each in a different article of the Constitution.

The Constitution also incorporates a system of checks and balances. Thus the laws that Congress makes are subject to the president's veto and to judicial review. The president, in turn, is subject to congressional overriding of his veto, to impeachment, to senatorial approval of his treaties and appointments, and to judicial review of his actions. 

Despite a certain dependence on Congress and the judiciary, the president emerged from the Constitutional Convention with strong powers. He was made commander in chief of the armed forces and given the power to appoint many public officials, to make treaties, to receive ambassadors and ministers, to grant reprieves and pardons, and to enforce the laws. He could recommend legislation in messages to Congress and Veto measures passed by the legislature; he could call either or both houses into special session and adjourn them if they disagreed as to the time of adjournment.