POLS 34102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Unilateralism, Divided Government, War Powers Resolution
29 Jun 2018
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CH 13 OUTLINE
Establishing the Presidency
1. The framers thought a unitary executive would be energetic and thus better able to protect
the nation's interests.
2. Presidents are selected in indirect elections through the Electoral College.
3. The presidency was strengthened by the introduction of the national convention system of
nominating presidential candidates.
4. The development of presidential government as we know it today did not mature until Franklin
D. Roosevelt (FDR) and his New Deal of the 1930s. Since then, every president has been strong,
whether committed to the strong presidency or not.
The Constitutional Powers of the Presidency
1. The president's expressed powers, which are granted by the Constitution, fall into five
categories—military, judicial, diplomatic, executive, and legislative.
2. The position of commander in chief makes the president the highest military authority in the
United States, with control of the entire defense establishment. The Constitution delegates to the
president, as commander in chief, the obligation to protect every state against invasion and
domestic violence.
3. The presidential power to grant reprieves, pardons, and amnesty involves power over all
individuals who may be a threat to the security of the United States.
4. The power to receive representatives of foreign countries allows the president almost
unconditional authority to determine whether a new ruling group can indeed commit its country to
treaties and other agreements. Recently, presidents have increased the use of executive
agreements instead of treaties.
5. The president's executive power consists of the ability to appoint, remove, and supervise all
executive officers and to appoint all federal judges (with Senate approval).
6. Another component of the president's power as chief executive is executive privilege—the
claim that confidential communications between a president and close advisers should not be
revealed without presidential consent.
7. The president's legislative power consists of the constitutional requirement to deliver a State
of the Union address and the president's constitutional power to veto any acts of Congress.
8. Though not explicitly, the Constitution also provides the president with the power of legislative
initiative, which implies the ability to formulate proposals for important policies.
9. The president can issue executive orders, which are, first and foremost, simply normal tools of
management: rules-setting procedures, etiquette, chains of command, functional responsibilities,
and others. But evolving out of this normal management practice is a recognized presidential
power to promulgate rules that have the effect and formal status of legislation.
10. Powers given to the president by Congress are called delegated powers. Because of the
expansion of government in the last century, Congress has voluntarily delegated a great deal of
its own legislative authority to the executive branch.
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Document Summary
Since then, every president has been strong, whether committed to the strong presidency or not. United states, with control of the entire defense establishment. But evolving out of this normal management practice is a recognized presidential power to promulgate rules that have the effect and formal status of legislation: powers given to the president by congress are called delegated powers. For example, though the president is commander in chief, only congress can declare war. However, presidents have gone a long way in capturing this power for themselves. 1973, congress passed the war powers resolution as a response to presidential unilateralism, but presidents have generally ignored it. The office of management and budget and the council of economic advisers both fall under this category: as the institutional presidency has grown in size and complexity, most presidents of the past. During periods of divided government, the president"s party is in the minority in congress.
