In the wake of the American Revolution, American leaders did not seek to form a government in which a powerful monarch dictated government proceedings. They instead formed a government with no centralized executive branch, let alone a president (Pika 6). This government was fraught with problems, however; the legislature could not regulate currency between the states, pay war debts, enforce public order, or conduct foreign policy business (Engstrom Lecture 2). As these problems became insurmountable, leaders began to realize the need for an executive branch to enforce order and unify the states (Nichols 3). However, their fears from the era of British monarchical rule still played a significant factor as they drafted the new U.S. Constitution.
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Modern presidents have defied all of these desires and more, creating an extremely powerful executive branch that the framers would likely be appalled by. When drafting the Constitution, the framers intentionally limited the section on the Presidency to only 13 ambiguous paragraphs, while writing 51 in the section on what they envisioned to be the more powerful branch: Congress (Engstrom lecture 2). While many have argued that this was intentional because the framers did not want to limit the scope of the presidency, it is hard to imagine they would desire this after being so strongly opposed to British monarchical rule. In fact, the powers that the framers did explicitly grant the president in the Constitution came with many checks by Congress. The president was to be the commander-in-chief, but only Congress could declare war and treaties had to be ratified by the Senate. The president was to be the chief executive, but appointments required Senate ratification and he must report to Congress regularly. The president was granted veto power, but a veto could be overturned by a 23 vote in the House (Engstrom Lecture
Modern presidents have defied all of these desires and more, creating an extremely powerful executive branch that the framers would likely be appalled by. When drafting the Constitution, the framers intentionally limited the section on the Presidency to only 13 ambiguous paragraphs, while writing 51 in the section on what they envisioned to be the more powerful branch: Congress (Engstrom lecture 2). While many have argued that this was intentional because the framers did not want to limit the scope of the presidency, it is hard to imagine they would desire this after being so strongly opposed to British monarchical rule. In fact, the powers that the framers did explicitly grant the president in the Constitution came with many checks by Congress. The president was to be the commander-in-chief, but only Congress could declare war and treaties had to be ratified by the Senate. The president was to be the chief executive, but appointments required Senate ratification and he must report to Congress regularly. The president was granted veto power, but a veto could be overturned by a 23 vote in the House (Engstrom Lecture