Last week was about the development, establishment and evolution of legislative power in the US. This week we do the same for executive power.
To recap some main points: In the fist set of slides I tried to trace the development of legislative power from the Security Clause in the Magna Carta through the Petition of Right, the British Bill of Rights and the Congress under the Articles of Confederation. The principle point was that legislative power took time to establish, and the specific powers and duties we see held by the legislature developed over those few centuries. I tried to make the point that what we see in Article One of the US Constitution is the result of that history.
The second set of slides walked through the ten sections of Article One and elaborated on each. Some of this material we had seen before when we had discussed checks and balances and federalism, and some we will discuss further when we look at elections.
The third set outlines how the institution has changed over time and looked at the development of two key institutions - the standing committee and the party. This was intended to illustrate how power flows through the institution, and how this flow can change over time. At different times in history, the Speaker and then committee chairs dominated the House. Right now, the political party does - and also is becoming dominant in the Senate as well. That is one of the principle facts of contemporary political life, so I hope that point came through.
This week I'll follow the same order and look at executive power.
As opposed to legislative and judicial power, executive power - as a distinct and separate entity - is far older than those two. At one point the executive also held legislative and executive power - this, as we know, is what made the executive tyrannical - this was the age of monarchy. in the first set of slides I look at the history covered in the section on the legislature, but from the point of view of the executive. How was the legislature gradually able to develop the power to contain the executive/monarch? As you know already, this took time. The executive in Britain - after the Norman Invasion - began developing an administrative structure that allowed for the direct execution of the laws. This included tax collecting and law enforcement. This is important for us because it shows that executive power is not just about the guy on top, but the administrative institutions that do the actual implementation of the law - the bureaucracy. Anyway - the entire point of the history we are covering is to show how arbitrary, autocratic executive power was slowly contained and how documents - like the Magna Carta - were essential in doing the containing.
The second set of slides focuses on Article Two of the Constitution - which is about the executive power. As with Article One, we will walk through it and comment on what it says. We will note the the section is far shorter that Article One, and quite a bit vague when it comes to presidential powers. This is important because it sets the stage for what we cover in the third set of slides.
The executive power has grown considerably over American history, and the the third set of slides attempts to outline the nature of the expansion, and put it in context. The Constitution created a dynamic commercial republic. The nation began growing immediately and newer needs and issues arose. Congress tends to respond to these by creating new executive institutions, which expands not only the scope of executive power, but allows for the executive branch to act in some cases without consulting Congress - all because Congress has allowed it to do so. In addition, we will note how the office of the presidency has been able to take advantage of improvements in media technology to reach out directly to the population, over the heads of Congress. When successful, this allows the president leverage over the legislature - all of which increases the institutions power.
As with each week - I'll do what I can to highlight stories that illustrate these concepts - especially those pertaining to expanded executive power. Send me whatever you can than does the same and I'll post them.
Here are the sections we will cover this week:
- The Executive: Definition and Historical Background
- The Executive: Constitutional Design
- Presidential Power and the Bureaucracy
These labels for old blog posts might be useful for putting this material in context. If you are confused about anything, email me a question and I'll post clarification.
- presidential powers
- Obama Presidency
- the bureaucracy
- presidential persuasion
