America.gov - Telling America's Story

01 January 2008

The President

The Constitution's list of powers granted to the president is much shorter than the list of powers granted to Congress.

Historians argue that the framers of the Constitution widely assumed that George Washington, the Revolutionary War Army commander, would be elected the first president and wanted to let him begin elaborating the powers. Elected unanimously in 1789, Washington acted as president with restraint.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force!" Washington wrote in 1790. "Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

The Constitution basically requires the president to uphold the Constitution and execute faithfully the laws of the United States. Article 2 states that "The executive power shall be invested in a President of the United States of America" and be elected with a vice president for terms of four years. A 1951 amendment restricted any person to only two elected terms as president.

Presidents of the United States are not elected by direct popular vote. Under the Constitution, an Electoral College elects the president. Each state has a number of electors equal to its number of senators and members in the House of Representatives. Since the early 1800s, the voters in each state have elected the electors, who are pledged to a presidential candidate.

Sometimes in U.S. history, the Electoral College election winner gets fewer popular votes than the losing candidate. That happened in 2000 when Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore.

The president has considerable constitutional power over legislation. For a bill from Congress to become law, the president generally must sign it; or if he vetoes a bill, Congress must override the veto with two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate. However, if a president takes no action on a bill within 10 days of receiving it and Congress is in session, the bill becomes law without the president’s signature. If Congress adjourns before the 10 days are up and the president has taken no action, the bill is vetoed.

The Constitution names the president commander in chief of U.S. armed forces, including state militias, now called the National Guard. President Bush has called up National Guard units to fight in Iraq to supplement the regular Army.

Congress has the constitutional authority to declare war, but presidents have engaged in some military conflicts without Congress' consent, citing the power of commander in chief. In 1801, for example, President Thomas Jefferson sent frigates to the Mediterranean, to fight North African pirates preying on U.S. commerce ships. Jefferson did so without a formal declaration of war from Congress.

Under the Constitution, the president has the power to make formal treaties with foreign countries. Such treaties require Senate approve by a two-thirds majority. In the 20th century, presidents started making some informal executive agreements with the leaders of other foreign countries, including trade agreements, instead of formal treaties.

The Constitution does not mention such executive agreements. Nevertheless, Congress and presidents have worked out a procedure for considering trade agreements: The president submits a legislative package for implementing an agreement, and the House and Senate vote to accept or reject the package by simple majority vote.

The president has the authority to appoint ambassadors to foreign countries, Supreme Court justices, lower court judges, and top executive branch positions, subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Occasionally, the Senate does reject a nomination; more often Senate opponents simply delay acting on a nomination they oppose. Nominations to the Supreme Court and federal courts have become especially contentious over the past 40 years.

The president also has the power to make temporary appointments without Senate confirmation when the Senate is in recess. President Bush used that power in 2005 to appoint John Bolton temporarily as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations when the Senate went into summer recess without having acted on Bolton's nomination.

Using the few words of the Constitution, Congress and presidents have expanded the executive branch into a vast bureaucracy that affects the lives of most people on a daily basis. None of the departments, offices, and commissions that make up the federal government is mentioned in the Constitution. Also unmentioned is the use of executive orders to implement policies in line with the laws passed by Congress.

The executive branch today comprises the Executive Office of the President, 15 executive Cabinet departments, and nearly 90 independent agencies. About 2 million people work in the federal government now, roughly half the total number of people living in the United States when the Constitution was ratified.