The Presidency
The Original Compromise Tested
Politicians wrote the Constitution
U.S. Constitutional Convention,
July 24, 1787
- Gouverneur Morris was “anxious that the Executive should
be properly constituted.
The vice here would not … be curable”
- “It is the most difficult of all rightly to balance the
Executive.
- Make him too weak: The Legislature will usurp his powers:
- Make him too strong. He will usurp on the Legislature.”
• If we give the president a long term but
refuse to allow him to be reelected,
will he “cease to be a man?
• “No he will be unwilling to quit his exaltation, the
road to his object thro' the Constitution will be shut;
• “he will be in possession of the sword, a civil war will
ensue, and the Commander of the victorious army on
which ever side, will be the despot of America.”
BOTH the Virginia Plan &
The New Jersey Plan
Originally proposed that
Congress would
choose the executive
Why?
The Connecticut
Compromise changed
Madison’s mind about the
executive
Suddenly –
• The president must have
“free agency with regard to the Legislature”
• Unlike Congress,
the president would
“be considered as a national officer, acting for and
equally sympathising with every part of the U[nited]
States.”
Why did Madison change his mind?
The big political question:
– Who selects the president?
That is, upon whom will the president depend?
– If Congress, then the president
will take Congress’s standpoint
– But because of the Connecticut Compromise,
Madison and his friends no longer trusted Congress.
– Madison & friends tried to find an alternative
The Compromise on the Presidency
Negotiated by members of a committee
The Grand Compromise on the Presidency
Gave Us the …
The President is elected by “electors”
- not by Congress
The number of
electoral votes
= the number of
members of Congress
Each state has the same number of electoral votes as they have votes
in Congress
(2 Senators + some number of Representatives)
Note how republicanism shaped the presidency:
• The people choose state legislators
who choose the electors
• The truly revolutionary provision
for the peaceful removal and
replacement of the nation’s leader
• The natural born citizen rule prevents
the import of Hanover or Bourbon
family members from becoming
King of America
• The 35 year old requirement makes it hard for the
president to turn over the presidency directly to his son
The Result
The President's
Constituency
Presidents, unlike Congress, would be elected
by a constituency in at least many states in
different regions of the country.
Presidents, unlike anyone in Congress, would
operate on a 4 year election calendar.
The 2016 election
“RNC staffers thought Trump would win 240 Electoral
College votes, 30 short of the 270 needed to win.
“The best data inside the Trump campaign was just as
pessimistic.
“Trump’s support and turnout among rural voters was 10
percentage points higher than they had expected.”
The Electoral Vote 2016
Trump’s Coalition
All Political Analysts the Day
After the 2016 Election
Presidents would have to “make politics”
- build coalitions of political support
independent of Congress
How well is President Trump “Making Politics?”
Not very
Sinews of Presidential Power: People and Money
• President Trump has yet to nominate
anyone for 74% of key executive
branch positions. Out of the 558
positions which require Senate
confirmation, 415 have no nominee
as of Sunday (June 18).
Emoluments
• The framers feared foreign influence.
• Every member of Congress had to be
a citizen for a number of years,
• And the President had to be a natural
born citizen.
• To further protect against foreign
influence, that added that
"No person holding any office of profit
or trust under the U. S. shall without the
consent of the Legislature, accept of any
present, emolument, office or title of any
kind whatever, from any King, Prince or
foreign State.”
Investigating presidents
Can a president fire
an FBI Director? Sure.
Can a president fire
a Special Prosecutor? Sure.
The consequences are mainly political
Removing the President
The debate at the Constitutional Convention
• George Mason: “Shall any man be above Justice?”,
and most especially the executive,
“who can commit the most extensive injustice?”
• William Davie: Without the threat of removal,
an executive “will spare no efforts or means
whatever to get himself re-elected.”
• Madison: “thought it indispensable that some
provision should be made for defending
the Community against the
incapacity, negligence or perfidy
of the chief Magistrate;”
an executive could abuse his powers
for personal gain, oppression,
or to sell out the nation to a foreign power
• Only two presidents
have gone through
the impeachment process
• The impeachment process is
much more political than legal
• Politicians in the House of
Representatives vote on articles
of impeachment
• Politicians in the Senate
serve as the jury
To Be Continued …
Thanks very much
Michigan stadium holds about 108,000 people