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America's Constitution Chapter 1 Analysis

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Melissa Kay Olivieri 2516826 March 8,2017 Throughout Chapters 4 and 5 of America’s Constitution: A Biography, Akhil Reed Amar details the president 's powerful responsibilities and limits as well as how those relate to either a monarch or a governor. In Chapter 4 Amar focuses on how the president 's power will compare with other types of political power both foreign and domestic. One of the differences included the amount of time a single term of presidency would be-four years as opposed to a monarch 's lifetime reign, or a governor’s one year period. An important change in how the president came to be in office was that he was chosen from the people he would govern, this was not true of either monarchs or governors. In chapter 5 the …show more content…

Another key contrast for the president from a monarch was in the fact that the president was first not only “elected by fellow citizens, [but also] subject to potential impeachment” (Amar, p. 145). Through its Constitution America broke all traditions for previous important heads of government such as shown in “British law [which] had no regularized legal [way] for ousting a bad king” (Amar, p. 199). Amar goes on to implicitly state that “the monarch himself was immune from impeachment” (Amar, p. 199). The goal for America was to differ from the way that Europe passed power through heredity without the need for or basis of merit. One way Article II of the Constitution specifically aimed to prohibit the immediate passing from father to son was through an age requirement set at thirty-five, which also gave those voting for a candidate time to judge his worthiness. “Tench Coxe argued that while Britain’s king ‘is hereditary, and may be an ideot, a knave, or a tyrant,’ America’s president ‘cannot be...for those, whom nature makes so discover [i.e., reveal] it before the age thirty-five’” (Amar, p.160). Through “an impeachment standard...the Constitution structured… a system of national accountability” (Amar, p. 200-201). The process for impeachment was also not an easy one as it first had to show that the president was “unfit to serve [due to] treason, bribery, or any other ‘high Crimes [or] Misdemeanors’” (Amar, p. 198). Included in the process of impeachment was “a special

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president or other members of the government to have to rely on popular oratory. They did not believe the president should constantly be on trial by the court of public opinion for everything he said. They wanted to “establish institutions which could operate effectively without the immediate support of the transient opinion” (242). The modern presidency is entirely different than what the founding fathers intended it to be.

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1. When the Constitution was drafted “Article II, Section 2, clause 2 grants the President the power to ‘appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States [except those whose positions are not otherwise already provided for in the Constitution. And] Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers…in the President alone” (Presidential Powers). However, the issue of removal powers of the president where not addressed within the Constitution, therefore this issue is one that has been debated. The issue with removal power is if the president is given too much power and many member of Congress opposed this power.

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In February, 1868 President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives, the Senate tried the case in a trial, which lasted from March to May 1868. During the Civil War the far-reaching Republicans wanted to give the African-Americans more freedom and rights that the conservative Republicans, both were on the side of the North. He was impeached for violating the “Tenure of Office Act”, which had been passed over Johnsons veto. It prohibited the president from dismissing certain federal official without the Senate approval, and for denouncing Congress as unfit to legislate. In 1867, President Johnson made an effort to test the constitutionality of the act by swapping Stanton with General Ulysses S. Grant.

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DBQ Essay The United States Constitution is a document that or founding fathers made in order to replace the failing Articles of Confederation (A of C). Under the Constitution, the current government and states don’t have the problems they faced when the A of C was in action. The Constitution was created in 1788, and held an idea that the whole nation was nervous about. This idea was a strong national government, and the Federalist assured the people that this new government would work. The framers of the Constitution decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments because the A of C had many problems, there was a need for the layout of new government, rights, and laws, and there was a need for the Federal

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Did you know he was the first president to ever get impeached? After he vetoed the “Freemans Bureau” bill, the members of Congress overthrew the veto and he was sent to court for impeachment. Apparently, he was found innocent and after he was removed from the presidency, he decided to get re-elected for the Senate. He completed 2 tasks before he got impeached.

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Having a president is something that no country had ever done, or thought to do. The first election was in 1789, where George Washington became the first President. Eight years later in 1797, John Adams was elected to be our second president. Four years after that, Thomas Jefferson became our third president. No one knew exactly how this new idea would affect the United States, but we had to take a leap of faith.

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