Ryan Pallas

HIS 305*30
Dr. Kneeland
The Presidency Expanded beyond belief.
When people first think of the United States, the first thing that usually
comes to mind is freedom and democracy. Also, what comes to mind is the
President of the United States. The President to the American people is someone
who represents the country and has Americas best interest in mind. The presidents
are role models, people who we aspire to be like. The presidency began with the
intention of being solely the executor of laws passed by Congress. Through time the
office of the president has become more than a mere executor of the laws. The
power of the office of the president has expanded gradually through domestic
policies, wartime powers and influence over the American peoples desire for the
future of the United States.
The presidential power over domestic policy has expanded via times of crisis
and building on past policies. Franklin D. Roosevelt helped guide the nation through
the Great Depression and the majority of World War II. Roosevelt through his vision
convinced the American public that it was the duty of the federal government to
help its citizens in times of crisis. This vision would become a reality via the New
Deal. The New Deal was a series of legislative acts, executive orders, presidential
proclamations that sought not only to secure individual security, but also remedy
the broader economic problems that underlay the Great Depression. 1 The program
in the New Deal that would have a lasting effect on Americas domestic policy would
be the Social Security Act.2 The Social Security Act would create an old age and
unemployment insurance system that would bring about the foundation for the

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modern welfare state. The modern welfare state would come to be via Lyndon B
Johnsons Great Society. The Great Society included Medicare and Medicaid, the
Voting Rights Act, the Older Americans Act, the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, the Equal Opportunity Act, the Air Pollution Control Act, and
legislation to create the Department of Transportation and the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.3 Through these laws and programs allowed the
office of the President to expand via cabinets to carry out the new legislature.
At times, the president does ignore legislature that has previously been past or even
the Constitution. In the early stages of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln did not
hesitate to resort to otherwise unconstitutional measures. 4 Lincoln mobilized
75,000 militia, suspended the writ of habeas corpus and blockaded the South. 5 This
was an internal affair, though only Congress has the power to wage war. In Lincolns
defense, he was looking to past presidents for guidance. Following the example of
Andrew Jackson, used his inaugural address to pronounce secession is
unacceptable: I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution
the Union of these states is perpetual that no state upon its own mere notion can
lawfully get out of the Union.6 This similar to policy of John Adams. Under the
Adams Administration, the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed. These Acts meant
the president was able to expel foreigners at will and made it a crime to speak
about the president in a false, scandalous, and malicious way. 7 In turn, the Supreme
Court would overrule Lincolns policies after his death in Ex parte Milligan. Though
the policies brought forth in Lincolns administration showed that power in the

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hands of the president could be used to wage and win wars more effectively than
Congress.
War powers for the president have expanded exponentially. During the FDR
administration not only was the economy relegated but Roosevelt sent Japanese
American internment camps. On February 8, 1942, Roosevelt signed an executive
order authorizing the removal of more than one hundred thousand American
citizens of Japanese descent from their homes on the West Coast to isolated,
desolate relocation camps.8 The order was justified according to the Supreme
Court, since it was war time. Another instance of this kind of executive order can be
seen under the George W. Bush Administration. According to an executive order
issued by George W. Bush on November 13, 2001, unlawful enemy combatants
--that is, those not wearing the uniform of a nations military--would be brought to
trial not in a civil court, but in a military tribunal and with no right of appeal. 9
Congress would sustain this order, which in turn justify the expansive use of
presidential power around the globe but this time the cause would be the war on
terror rather than the war on communism.10
The president has through time become the center of power in the United States.
Through legislative acts and executive orders the president has received more
power. America has looked to the president to make decisions in order to ensure the
safety and the future for generations to come. The president, through his own
influence on the public has been able to expand his powers through domestic
policies and war powers due to crisis and pressure from the American Public.

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