Presidential Power & Its Limits

There are certain powers which are spelled out in the Constitution with respect to the President with more specificity than other powers. The creators of the Constitution wanted to make sure that the President had enough legal power to be able to serve effectively as the leader of the Executive branch and the initiator of domestic and foreign policy. On the other hand, they wanted to make sure that there were limitations on the powers of the President in order to prevent him from accruing to himself and the Executive branch so much power that the delicate balance of power (particularly with respect to the relationship between Congress and the President) was upset.

The creators of the Constitution, in determining the powers of the President, did not want such a weak leader that the government was paralyzed in a stalemate between the branches, but they also wanted to guard against the kind of autocracy which ruled over them from England and brought on the Revolutionary War and the ultimate establishment of the Constitution itself.

As de Boinville writes, the writers of the Constitution sought to alter the imbalances of the Articles of Confederation: "No question troubled the convention more than the powers and structure to be given the executive in the new government. The office did not exist under the Articles of Confederation, which placed

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and war. The President, for example, "is expected to be 'the general manager of the entire machinery of government . . . He must so manage the governmental machinery that we have good times and not hard times, and that the diverse sections of the economy be kept in reasonable balance . . . (He) is expected to keep us at peace with other nations and, when that proves impossible, lead us to victory" (Truman, 1964, pp. 398-399). The sources note unanimously that the powers spelled out hold true for all presidents. Why, then, are some presidents clearly more powerful than others? The answer, as stated, is in part found in the historical circumstances prevailing when an individual becomes president. If the period is stable and prosperous, the people will expect little from the president, and he will exercise power appropriate to those low expectations. If the period is one of economic downturn and/or foreign turmoil, the people will want a more active and powerful president, and the executive leader will respond accordingly, or will at least try to. The more the people expect of the president, and the more they support him, his ideas, and his programs in the election or the polls, the more the Congress will be likely to respond
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Approximate Word count = 3506
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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