How Did The President Have Limited Power

The framers of the constitution wanted to have a president with limited power because they wanted to prevent another tyranny. As stated in Federalist #46, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands…may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” The framers created a government with checks and balances which caused the separation of power composed of the three branches: Legislative (congress), Executive (president), and Judicial (supreme court). They didn’t want a single branch to become too powerful, so they gave each branch specific checks that they could use on the other two branches to keep them in line. Although the president was intended to be weak on paper, actually to the American …show more content…
According to Federalist #51, “In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates,” meaning congress is the most powerful branch of the government, but the founding fathers believed the president should serve as an additional check on power. A perfect example of why they wanted the check on congress’s power is what Madison stated in federalist #51, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” This means that if congress becomes too powerful then the president can check congressional power and vice versa. The president can convene congress and has veto power. The president can call Congress into a special session, as described by the constitution, on “extraordinary occasions.” He also has the power to veto congressional legislation. This caused the alteration of the role of the presidency because the president is seen as the leader of our country, but congress is supposed to be the most powerful. Another important policy change comes with the 22nd Amendment. Before the 22nd amendment, the president could serve as many terms as they wanted in the office. This amendment limits President to 2 terms. This alters the role of the presidency because the president can only get elected into office for 8 years and after that he can’t be president anymore. The president tries to do as much as he can once he has been elected into office so he can get re-elected …show more content…
Congress itself has given the president powers that it does not constitutionally have, and the constitution is vague in some areas so the president takes advantage of the opportunity. For example, when he deploys troops to war without congressional approval because the constitution says he is the commander in chief. The role of the president has changed from weak to a strong one because he has more powers than the founding fathers intended. Institutional, cultural, and policy changes have altered the role of the Presidency because they caused the president’s power to strengthen and ultimately giving the impression that the president is the most