When the Constitution was established, Article II was created to state the executive power shall be independent and a unitary president of the United States. A unitary president, or in other words a single-person, would provide quicker and more aggressive action than a multi-person executive council. However, even though the president is an independent position, the Constitution still states forms of checks and balances through the legislative and judicial branch. Article II also states how to select the president. The writers of the Constitution were opposed to Congress or the people electing the president, so the compromise was to establish an electoral college. The Electoral College provided an indirect way of electing the president …show more content…
The nineteenth and early twentieth century are characterized as a “Legislative Epoch” because the country was deemed as a Congressional government and the president was seen simply as someone who implemented the will of Congress. There was very little reign from the president and they were left with very little to enforce their personal national and social agendas. National conventions, which were huge meetings held by political parties once they’ve selected a presidential candidate, began to rise in the 1830s. This strengthened the executive branch because whoever was elected, had a large support group from their political party. Congress however, remained to keep a tight reign over the president to make sure their powers did not over step the Constitution. The administration of Franklin Roosevelt was the transformation to today’s modern presidency. In his first 100 days in office, he took control of the executive branch and promoted certain policies to Congress. This transformed the size of the national government in America. His newly passed programs were unseen before and intervened in the American economy and the challenged the traditional balance of power in federalism and the separation of powers. One of his most famous programs was The New Deal, which took quick action to expand the role of the national government. FDR had an especially