2302+Fall+Week+Eight

Week Eight Readings, Notes, and Assignment**
 * GOVT 2302


 * The Executive: Background**


 * Readings:**

1 - British History: [|The Stuarts]. (Use the "choose an option" links on top of the page to look at each of the Stuart Kings) 2 - Grievances in the [|Declaration of Independence](see summary below) 3 - Outline of issues presented in the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers 67-76.


 * Description:**

In this section we review the background issues associated with the executive branch. The link to the Stuarts takes you to an overview of the Scottish monarchs whose broad claims of executive power led to the backlash discussed in the previous section on the Glorious Revolution. Attempts by the British monarch to usurp colonial executive power were used to justify the revolution with Britain. And the problematic nature of executive power was a subject of many of the Federalist Papers. On the one hand, an energetic executive was argued to be essential to the effective maintenance of the union, but it was also acknowledged that the power centered in this office could jeopardize individual liberty.


 * Assignments:**

Internet Students: I want you to write three 200 word answers to the following: 1 - Read the information about the Stuart kings and detail how they might have led people to seek to limit the influence of the monarchy. 2 - Which grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence focused on efforts of the king to minimize colonial executive power? What does this tell us about the problems posed by monarchic power? 3 - Elaborate on some of the questions raised by the federalists regarding executive power. Are these the same types of things we worry about today?

Lecture Students: I intend to begin having weekly quizes again for this week. I want you to select one of the above assignments, and bring it with you to class. We will also have a multiple choice test based on the following terms, names, concepts and places (they can all be found by looking at "The Stuarts" link above:


 * [|The Divine Right of Kings]
 * [|The King James Bible]
 * [|Gun Powder Plot]
 * [|Parliament]
 * [|Charles 1st]
 * [|Personal Rule (The Eleven Year's Tyranny)]
 * [|Royal Prerogative]
 * [|The Short Parliament].
 * [|The British Civil War].
 * [|The British Bill of Rights (The Declaration of Rights)].
 * [|William and Mary].
 * [|Standing Armies].
 * Civil Power.


 * 1 - Notes on the Stuarts**

The more we know about the Stuarts and their attempts to impose absolute monarchic rule ( or something close to that) on the United Kingdom, the more we understand how free societies depend upon a strong legislative branch that can place limits on the actions of the executive. The link above provides an over view of these monarchs. Read through them and pay special attention to the conflicts that each monarch had with parliament, most notably Charles the First, and the factors that led to the conditions underlying the assumption of the throne by William and Mary. This takes us to ground covered in the discusion of the Glorious Revolution and the signing of the Declaration of Rights. By yielding key powers to the legislature (taxation, control over funding standing armies, etc...) the British system evolved to a point where it could provide the future founders a guideline for how they should organize the powers of government.


 * 2 - The Grievances**

The Declaration of Independence gives us a specific list of complaints about executive power. They help us understand what the colonists actually feared about the executive. The "he" of course refers to [|King George III].

- he has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. - he has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. - he has effected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. - for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us - f or protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states - he is at this time transp orting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

Notice that all pertain to the military. Many are also essentially the same as the restrictions on executive power listed in the [|Declaration of Rights]. The second and third may be the most important because they touch on the structure of government. The problem with the standing armies in peace time is that they were not kept with the consent of colonial legislatures, and the civil power was being rendered inferior to military power.


 * 3 - The Federalist and Anti - Federalist Papers**

67 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) George Clinton outlines a variety of fears concerning the executive branch which Hamilton argues are misrepresentations of the actual design in the Constitution.

68 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) The pros and cons of the Electoral College are discussed.

69 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Can the office of the presidency lead to the perpetuation of power in the hands of a small handful of individuals?

70 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Will the presidency turn into an elected king?

71 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Hamilton argues that a president must be in office for a reasonable period of time in order to be effective, and to have enough invested in the office to care about doing a good job. A degree of independence from the legislature is necessari in order for laws to be effectively implemented. Four years may not even be enough.

72 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Hamilton argues against term limits. Offers a variety of reasons: The threat of removal from office is no longer an inducement to good behavior, presidents on their way out will be tempted to pad their pockets.

73 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Hamilton points out two ways that the president's independence is established. Congress cannot manipulate the president's salary. This frees the president from being controlled by Congress. The executive can also protect itself with the veto, which allows the president the ability to negate the laws that the legislature sends him to enact.

74 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Hamilton states that it is obvious that the president, and only a single president, should be commender in chief of the armed forces. He justifies the pardoning power as a means of ensurign that the justice system not be cruel. The Anti-Federalist are concerned that the president will turn into a military king.

75 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Hamilton justifies the nature of treaty making power.

76 ([|Federalist] - [|Anti Federalist]) Hamilton argues that a single person should make the appointments for the executive branch.