ARTICLE II

Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term,75

75 In Woodrow Wilson's "History of the American People" (Vol. 3, p. 71) it is pointed out that the laws of the new government were to be imperative instead of advisory: "It was provided with the Executive the Confederation had lacked; a person in whose authority should be concentrated the whole administrative force of its government."

In Green's "History of the English People" it is stated that Cromwell's experience with the Long Parliament (1640–1660) confirmed his belief in the need of an executive power, entirely apart from the legislature, "as a condition of civil liberty."

In the examination of Article I, relating to the Legislative Department of the government, it has been seen that the President has great power in that department as well as in his own, in approving or vetoing bills passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives. He has an influence in the Judicial Department, too, for he appoints (Note 89) the judges; but, of course, only with the approval of the Senate.

He is as much a creation of the Constitution as the Legislative Department (Congress) or the Judicial Department (the Supreme and inferior courts), and he is therefore as independent of both as they are of each other and of him.

But for misconduct he may be impeached by the House and tried by the Senate, the Chief Justice presiding (Note 17) at the trial.

It was the intention of the Founders of the Republic that the Executive (President) should be a strong branch of the government. While the Colonies had had more than enough of a kingly executive wielding great and arbitrary power in a stubborn way, they had later learned from experience with governors of the States under the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) that an executive with defined and limited powers is an essential to good government. In those days the legislature was most feared as a possible usurper of power. The lawless record of the Long Parliament of England was only a century and a half away, while many acts of later Parliaments were believed to be transgressions of both constitutional and natural rights. James Otis and other colonial leaders declared that Parliament enacted laws against the Colonies "which neither God nor man ever empowered them to make." Hence the check of the President's veto, and the numerous definite limitations upon the power of Congress.

When the work of framing Article II had been done some thought that a monarch had been set up in the President; but, of course, that was unreasonable, as the Constitution provides for his election by popular vote, as he cannot raise a dollar for an army or for any other purpose, as he cannot declare war, as he is subject to removal by impeachment, and as he can do but very little beyond executing the laws of the Legislative Department (Congress). But within his sphere he is powerful and independent. "Abraham Lincoln," wrote James Bryce, "wielded more authority than any single Englishman has done since Oliver Cromwell." But much of Lincoln's war power, and particularly that for the use of which he was most criticised, the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, was given to him by Congress for the term of the war only. So in 1917 Con

gress gave to President Wilson extraordinary powers for prosecuting the war against Germany.

In the Constitutional Convention many favored a plural Executive, consisting of two or more men. Jefferson, who was not in the Convention, favored a one-man Executive, pointing out that "A Committee of the States" provided for in the Articles of Confederation to act during recess of Congress "quarreled very soon, split into two parties, abandoned their post, and left the Government without any visible head until the next meeting of Congress." In the "Federalist" a single executive was advocated by Hamilton because of "decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch" and because plurality tends to conceal faults and destroy responsibility."

The length of the term and whether there should be more than one term were much debated. A resolution was passed by the Convention that the President be not eligible for reëlection, Washington voting against it. Jefferson wrote strongly for one term, but he lived to change his mind and serve two terms. Later, he wrote that the example of four Presidents retiring at the end of eight years would have "the force of precedent and usage" against any man who might seek a third term. President Grant sought a third term in 1876, but he was defeated in the Republican nominating convention. Theodore Roosevelt, who had served three years of the second term of McKinley after that President's death, and a four-year term thereafter (1905–1909) for which he was elected, sought a third ("second elective" it was called) in 1912. Failing to secure the nomination in the Republican convention, he ran on a third-party ticket and lost.

Although the Constitutional Convention passed a resolution for one term, the committee to which it was finally referred never reported it back. Terms were proposed ranging in length from during good behavior down to three years. The Convention fixed the term at seven years, but

the report came back from the committee showing four years, not disclosing, however, the reason for the change. The President of France is elected for seven years and he may be reëlected.

In Chile the term of the President is five years and he is not eligible for reëlection. He cannot, without the permission of Congress, leave the Republic during his term or for one year thereafter.

The term of the President of the United States of Brazil is six years, and he is forbidden to leave the country during his incumbency under penalty of forfeiture of office.

In the first Congress under the new order (1789) consideration was given to choosing titles for the President and Vice President. "His Excellency" and "His Highness" and other titles were suggested, but as the House of Representatives had already addressed him simply as The President, it was finally resolved to adhere to his constitutional title, "President of the United States of America." be elected, as follows 76

76 Over and over the Constitutional Convention debated the question of how the President should be elected. It was proposed that he be chosen by Congress; by "electors chosen by the people in election districts"; by the governors of the States; by the Senate; and by the votes of all the people. The suggestion that the people could choose a President was described as "vicious", while Mr. Wilson of Pennsylvania stood stanchly for the popular vote. James Madison said that "if it is a fundamental principle of free government that the legislative, executive and judiciary powers shall be separately exercised, it is equally so that they be independently exercised"; and he declared that there is even greater reason why the Executive should be independent of the Legislative branch than why the Judiciary should be. Although at first the Convention voted that Congress elect the President, it was, after full

discussion of a question "the most difficult of all which we have had to decide", concluded to choose by the electors mentioned in the next paragraph, probably following the provision of the Constitution of Maryland for the election of State senators.

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: 77

Those of all

77 This is the "electoral vote" of a State. the States together make the vote of the so-called "electoral college." The vote of a State consists of one vote for each of the two senators and one vote for each representative. When the number of members in the National House of Representatives is changed by the growth of population, this necessarily increases the number of votes in the "electoral college." When Washington was first elected (1788) there was a total of sixty-nine electoral votes, that being the number of senators and representatives of the States participating, New York having failed to choose electors and Rhode Island and North Carolina not yet having ratified the Constitution. In 1922 there were five hundred thirtyone electoral votes in all the United States, based on the census of 1910.

It was the intention of the Constitutional Convention that the electors, chosen as each State might think the best way, should meet and vote their individual preferences, thus excluding the influence of Congress, and also the influence of the voters at large, who were thought incompetent to choose a President; and that is the way Washington was elected twice and Adams once. But during the administration of Adams friends of Jefferson in Congress held a conference or caucus and announced him as their candidate. This became the settled method of an