Richard Neustadt’s Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents discusses the powers of the president and the way in which these functions have changed in the most recent centuries. He first notes the importance of persuasion, which, when successful, creates more beneficial and lasting outcomes than if the leader had simply used his or her ability to give commands. Furthermore, the author goes on to state that national chief executive officers should be more “skeptical than trustful, more curious than committed.” () Likewise, he or she should be surrounded with a variety of opinions from trusted advisors in order to promote decisions that result in the best outcome for the most amount of people. Moving on, the writer speaks of the great shift…
Presidential Leadership and the Electoral College. Americans expect their presidents to get things done, to solve problems, to govern effectively, and to be strong leaders. The framers of the Constitution did not envision such presidential leadership. A scholar of the presidency points out that Article II of the Constitution gives the president scant formal power to influence congressional policy-making (Simon, n.d.). He also notes that the framers intentionally designed a process for selecting presidents that would minimize their political power – the Electoral College. They hoped this institution would insulate the chief executive from the public because they feared the power of presidents who might be elected by the people. Therefore, the Constitution provides that “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress…” Having state legislatures “appoint” the Electors who select the chief executive would minimize the president’s capacity to lead on the basis of his popular support. In a very real sense, the president would not be accountable to the people but rather to the state legislatures who appoint Electors. This procedure was also seen as a way to encourage the selection of statesmen with “characters preeminent for ability and virtue” rather than mere politicians with “talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity” (Hamilton, 1788).…
I think as the book states that the presidency and its scope have grown dramatically since its creation. I don’t think the framers had the vision of today’s world when they created the position. That being said, the one thing that has not changed or grown is the President still must answer to Congress and the people. I think he has a huge amount of responsibility and sometimes enough and sometimes not enough power. It just depends on the situation and where his presidential powers lie on the scale for that problem.…
This is a review of the book “The History of the American Presidency” by John Bowman, published in 2005 by World Publications Group Inc. & JP, consisting of 200 pages. This book illustrates the evolution of America’s presidency since its inception. This review discusses the author’s main arguments and its strengths and weaknesses. It also discusses the credibility of the author and whether he was successful in attaining his purpose. Finally, my concluding view of the book will be provided.…
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…
In this post, I want to explore a different two presidencies theory advanced by Jeffery Tulis. Tulis argues that there are two constitutional presidencies an uppercase “Constitutional” presidency and a lowercase “constitutional” presidency. Formal power presidency is the interlocking social structures that operate under a set of rules and policies that are designed to govern various transformations of how workers enact and develop social relationships in the work environment. Informal organizations are structured differently than formal organizations.…
The Presidency as a whole has changed in many ways throughout the course of history; specifically, in the relationship between the president and the public. The Constitution is vague when it describes communication of the president: a president must say why they veto a bill, and they must inform the public on the state of the union (Ellis 82). President George Washington had the task of establishing how the president would interact with the public. During the early days of the presidency the President communicated seldomly with the public; this is because the president was supposed to be held at a higher standard than the public, and they were supposed to communicate with Congress. Washington worked towards having the office of the president…
The presidency has changed very much over time from the time from the one which was created in the 1700s. Our first presidents had shaped an influential position by then but congress still was the most important figure of our government then. The president had to be at least the age of 35, American born and must have resided in the united states for no less than 14 years. In the constitution it states the president should be paid which cannot be increased or decreased during his term in office.…
Businesses need to choose their financial period ahead of time. The options are calendar or a fiscal year. A calendar year is simply January through December while a fiscal year can start during any month of the year and last 12 months.…
Because the Constitution gave the Presidents such limited power, Congress dominated the executive branch until the 1900’s when Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson asserted themselves providing the turning point in the 1930s for presidential power. Franklin Roosevelt, gained power through his New Deal programs to regulate the economy and the war required that he lead the country in foreign affairs as well. By these things the power of the president has increased massively in both constitutional and evolutionary ways. As the power increased the presidents decided to be surrounded with advisors to that are now called cabinet. Currently The Cabinet includes the Vice President and the heads of 15 executive departments…
Should the president have an unlimited number of terms that he/she can serve, or should they only be able to serve one six years term? I believe that the current system we have in place now is the best fit. I 100% agree with the 22nd amendment that was inspired by Thomas Jefferson because allowing the president the option of being in office for two terms is a comfortable number of years. I feel four years is plenty of time to accomplish different goals for the country. This also allows the president the ability to settle into their new position before having to think about the next election to come. Since the 22nd amendment states they can run for a second term, the president can run again and pursue goals in progress…
Political parties began to change as during this time partisan politics began mainly into two parties the Democrats and the Republicans. After Pres. Johnson was impeached and Pres. Grant allowed Congress to do his presidential duties the office of the presidency was considered more administrative position then a position of public or legislative power which calls Pres. Cleveland to be powerless against the depression of 1893. With each election causing a shift in power in Congress caused a constant strain on the House and Senate and times between Congressmen, this caused Congress to do inefficient (Goldfield, et al., 2011).…
In the early days of America, politics wasn’t very publicized. Before television “A debate on Capitol Hill back then might or might not have made the news, but even if it did, days could go by before the rest of the country reacted.” (How Politics Has Changed). With the inventions of the radio and television, people were able to immediately hear results from political debates and votes of Congress on the legislature. This change meant people became more knowledgeable about politics, and this caused increased involvement in politics throughout the country. This could be seen as a positive or negative change, but increased involvement of the people in the government is a change nonetheless. The political parties aren’t what they used to be, either. The ones we have today are not even the ones America originally had. The first two parties were called Federalists and Jeffersonians, or Republicans. Federalists were conservative, mostly elite, and a nationalistic government, while the Jeffersonians opposed the national bank, committed to the rights of states, and were “Anti-Administration” (The First Political Parties). Today the two main parties are Republican and Democrat. Republicans when they were first formed, weren’t conservative compared to today's Republican party and that is definitely an important change it…
Now that you have reviewed and taken notes on the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution it is time to respond to your writing prompt:…
I trust the President can and should utilize official requests to make history. For one thing, it is very clear that Congress wouldn't care for an official request, however that is on the grounds that they must vote and pass laws and such. I feel that if the President, who the voters chose, sees that a specific request would be fit, at that point he or she ought to have the capacity to pass it if Congress does not choose to. Past official requests, similar to the integration of the military and the Emancipation Proclamation, have achieved significant changes. Normally, if the President is anticipating passing an official request, he gives a sensible approval to it. Congress ought to at any rate be endeavored to be worked with above all else…