How much power should we give to the President?

This was one of the most vexing and critical questions facing the framers of the United States

Constitution in the summer of 1787.

To be effective, the President had to be perceived, both in times of war and peace, as the leader

of the nation.

For this to happen, he would have to be given significant authority.

Americans learned this lesson in the years following the Revolutionary War when the nation

floundered under the Articles of Confederation, which had no provision for a chief executive.

But this chief executive couldn't be made so strong that he could become a tyrant.

Americans fought a long and bloody war to get rid of one tyrant, the English king, George

III.

Nobody wanted to install a new one in his place.

The framers' answer is found in Article 2.

The opening sentence reads as follows.

The executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States.

This might sound straightforward, but it was anything but…

Here's why.

The vesting clause of Article 2, as it's known, differs significantly from the vesting

clause of Article 1, which concerns the powers of Congress, the House of Representatives,

and the Senate.

Article 1's vesting clause states, all legislative powers here in Granted shall be vested

in a Congress of the United States, and then goes on to list those limited powers.

...