Why presidential power has grown

As Steven Skowronek has shown, leadership styles that are effective in one political era may be irrelevant or counterproductive in another. Even presidential character and style are institutionally conditioned. Presidents today are generally more aggressive and ambitious than their predecessors because of an institutional change—a nominating process that tends to select for these characteristics by awarding the presidency to the survivor of years of harsh political struggles.

And, as to the power to persuade, this formula was already beginning to be out of date in when it was introduced. Presidents were already becoming more imperial and less dependent upon the fine art of persuasion. Accordingly, understanding the presidency requires what is generally called a historical-institutionalist approach. This perspective does not ignore leadership but, nevertheless, emphasizes history and institutions as the keys to understanding political phenomena.

Presidential history is a guide to understanding the ways in which past events and experiences shape current perspectives and frame the possibilities open to presidents. Institutional rules, particularly the Constitution, help set the parameters for decision making and collective action. Obviously, talented and ambitious presidents have pushed the boundaries of the office adding new powers that were seldom surrendered by their successors.

But, what made this tactic possible was the inherent constitutional imbalance between the executive and Congress. Presidential power has grown less because of the leadership styles of particular presidents, and more because the Constitution puts Congress at an institutional disadvantage and provides the president with an institutional edge. The number of representatives may fluctuate based on state population, which is determined every ten years by the U. The second-place finisher became vice president.

Should no candidate receive a majority of the votes cast, the House of Representatives would select the president, with each state casting a single vote, while the Senate chose the vice president. While George Washington was elected president twice with this approach, the design resulted in controversy in both the and elections. In , John Adams won the presidency, while his opponent and political rival Thomas Jefferson was elected vice president.

Jefferson was elected president in the House of Representatives on the thirty-sixth ballot. For the last two centuries or so, the Twelfth Amendment has worked fairly well. For example, the amendment created a separate ballot for the vice president but left the rules for electors largely intact. The intent of the rule was to encourage electors from powerful states to look for a more diverse pool of candidates.

But what would happen in a close election where the members of the winning ticket were both from the same state? The nation almost found out in In the presidential election of that year, the Republican ticket won the election by a very narrow electoral margin. To win the presidency or vice presidency, a candidate must get electoral votes a majority. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney won by the skin of their teeth with just Both, however, were living in Texas.

Cheney anticipated this problem and had earlier registered to vote in Wyoming, where he was originally from and where he had served as a representative years earlier.

As a result, the influence of the vice presidency has varied dramatically, depending on how much of a role the vice president is given by the president. Bush, become a partner in governance and rival the White House chief of staff in terms of influence. In addition to describing the process of election for the presidency and vice presidency, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention also outlined who was eligible for election and how Congress might remove the president.

Roosevelt was elected four times from to , the Twenty-Second Amendment was proposed and ratified, limiting the presidency to two four-year terms. An important means of ensuring that no president could become tyrannical was to build into the Constitution a clear process for removing the chief executive— impeachment.

Impeachment is the act of charging a government official with serious wrongdoing; the Constitution calls this wrongdoing high crimes and misdemeanors. The method the framers designed required two steps and both chambers of the Congress. First, the House of Representatives could impeach the president by a simple majority vote.

In the second step, the Senate could remove him or her from office by a two-thirds majority, with the chief justice of the Supreme Court presiding over the trial.

Upon conviction and removal of the president, if that occurred, the vice president would become president. Three presidents have faced impeachment proceedings in the House; none has been both impeached by the House and removed by the Senate. In the wake of the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson faced congressional contempt for decisions made during Reconstruction.

Nixon likely would have also been removed by the Senate, since there was strong bipartisan consensus for his impeachment and removal. Professor Michael Klarman notes that America had an isolationist approach early on: George Washington laid it out explicitly in his farewell address.

After the Cold War, it was the only superpower left. The leaders a president chose for the agencies effectively allowed for high-level control of the policies likely to come out of them. Credit: Illustration by Adam MacCauley During a crisis, presidents often find ways to increase their authority, whether those approaches are constitutional or not.

During a crisis, presidents often find ways to rapidly increase their authority, whether those approaches are constitutional or not. Lincoln may not have had any specific ambitions to expand the relatively modest presidential powers when he arrived. Lincoln called for 75, military volunteers after Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, and he later suspended habeas corpus—seemingly both congressional powers.

He also authorized military trials of civilians. Roosevelt also expanded his reach and control. He gave himself the authority to censor mail. He also cracked open previously confidential information from the census, which ultimately led to Japanese American internment. Jack Goldsmith, co-founder of the Lawfare blog, writes about terrorism, national security and executive power. Bush administration. How did the process of presidential selection help to define this character? How have changes in presidential selection affected presidential leadership?

With what types of constitutional powers is the president endowed? How have these powers changed over time? How did Franklin Roosevelt transform the power of the presidency and facilitate the rise of presidential government?