The Preratification Origins of the Unitary Executive Debate and the Decision of 1789
The Preratification Origins of the Unitary Executive Debate and the Decision of 1789
This chapter aims to briefly summarize the historical events between American independence in 1776 and the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that gave rise to Article II in order to understand the construction which presidents from Washington to Bush have given to Article II over the entire history of the United States. The introductory part of this book is thus concluded by discussing the eleven years during which the structure of U.S. government gestated, as well as the key events in 1789 when Article II first came to be construed as giving the president the removal power. Although the theory of the unitary executive is generally associated with the Reagan administration, it is, in reality, much older. Its origins can be traced back 220 years to the framers' disdain for the weak executive branches created for the federal government by the Articles of Confederation and for the states by the post-1776 state constitutions written immediately after American independence.
Keywords: weak executive branches, American independence, Constitutional Convention, Article II, Reagan administration, Articles of Confederation
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