Sarah 7th hrCollege HistoryWe the People Essay1/12/2010The Founding Fathers not only desired a president that was ??? above partisan politics??? but also one that would not be allowed to become a monarch while being ?????? energetic?????¦??? Energy??? refers to the capacity of one person to act efficiently and vigorously on behalf of the nation.??? Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 70, ??? Energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government.??? Perhaps this thought gave too much lee way to the president, giving him a wide range of ways to interpret his constitutional powersNumerous variables have been in place to help increase the president??™s power. One of them being that Americans have always projected a desire for its chief executives to act energetically and to attend to the nations problems. Polls taken from the 1930??™s, and on, have shown two prevailing attitudes of the people toward the president that are in direct conflict with each other.
First, ??? people want strong activist presidents.??? Second, ??? people fear and distrust activist presidents.??? The people expect the other two branches to perform as the check and balance for the executive branch. Other variables include ??? the president??™s role in recommending legislation to Congress.??? The executive branch is not only given the responsibility of enforcing the decisions the Supreme Court has made and the laws approved by the Congress, but also plays a larger part in the progress of federal regulations, which ??? elaborate the often general laws passed by Congress to make them more operational.??? Both of these duties have given the executive branch more central power. Also the use of executive orders has played a part in increasing the President??™s power, because the legislative bodies have developed the habit of leaving the details in the laws that are passed to be filled in by the executive branch. Over the more recent years executive orders has become increasingly used.
One last variable in the increase of power includes the federal government assuming the responsibilities that were formally seen as the responsibilities of individuals or the local and state governments. This includes making decisions about education, healthcare, transportation and product safety. During times of distress the president is allowed to take power that would other wise be denied to him. Such as President Roosevelt who transported destroyers to Great Britain in 1940, a full year before America entered WWII. Also President Truman, who commanded the secretary of commerce to manage the nation??™s steel mills during a strike to guarantee a sufficient supply of steel during the Korean War. Also President Abraham Lincoln ??? asserted unprecedented, unilateral executive power??? during the Civil war to force blockades upon the southern ports, suspend the writ of habeas corpus, take over the militia and enlarge the size of the army along with the navy.
Congress and the Supreme Court have tried to restrain this growth, such as in 1952 the Court ruled that President Truman was over stepping his authority by confiscating the mills. Even so, thanks to all these variables we have a president with a much larger portion of power than George Washington ever had.