The evolution of the executive and executive power in the American republic / by Mackubin Thomas Owens and Stephen F. Knott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Owens, Mackubin Thomas, author.

Knott, Stephen F., author.

Contributor:

Foreign Policy Research Institute, publisher.

Series:

Philadelphia papers ; No. 8.

Columbia International Affairs Online.

Philadelphia papers ; No. 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Executive departments--United States.

Executive departments.

United States.

Executive power--United States.

Executive power.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (21 pages).

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, PA : Foreign Policy Research Institute, 2014.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

As Americans, we take for granted the idea of a government that is both free and yet strong enough to preserve the security of its citizens. But the fact is that such a government is a recent invention, first emerging as a result of political thought and practice in eighteenth century England and only coming to full flower in Philadelphia with the drafting of the American Constitution of 1787. As Harvey Mansfield wrote in his book Taming the Prince, “the combination of freedom and strength does not arise easily or naturally,” a fact confirmed “both by the grand outline of modern history and the experience of the ancients.” Throughout history, strong governments have generally been monarchies, but at the expense of freedom. It was in republics that freedom was supposed to reside but, before the creation of the American Republic, the republican form of government had a mixed record at best. Ancient republics were characterized by constant struggle between the few (oligarchs) and the many (the demos) that led to instability and weakness. Modern republics also either came to grief (the German cities) or faded into irrelevance and obscurity (Venice and the Dutch Republic). But in Philadelphia, the Founders created a government that combined the freedom of republics with the strength of monarchies. The Founders' innovation that permitted this pairing of freedom and security to work was the “executive.” In Mansfield's words, “the executive provided the strength of monarchy without tolerating its status above the law, so that monarchy would not only be compatible with the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution, but would also be expected to serve both. Furthermore, the recasting of monarchy as executive power made it dependably democratic as well as legal and constitutional.”

Notes:

"December 2014".

Includes bibliographical references.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (CIAO, viewed October 13, 2016).

OCLC:

960688908

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.