What were some of the key debates over the presidency at the Constitutional Convention?
About this video
Delegates feared that giving executive power to one person would create a dictator, so the debates over the presidency were confused: one or three executives, a lifetime term or not. Hamilton even argued for an elected monarch, perhaps to make a lesser compromise acceptable. In the end, the issue was settled less by argument than by the fact that everyone knew George Washington would be the first president, serving four-year renewable terms.
You'll be able to
- explain why delegates feared a single strong executive.
- describe some of the options debated for the presidency.
- explain how Washington's presence helped resolve the debate.
Key words
- executive power
- The power to carry out and enforce laws, held by the president.
- dictator
- A ruler with total power who is not controlled by laws or voters.
- monarch
- A king or queen who usually rules for life.
- renewable term
- A set time in office that can be repeated if re-elected.
Transcript
All discussions are held hostage to some of the conspiracy theories, but to fear that if you grant executive power to a single person, that person will almost for certain become a dictator and a lifetime appointment. That's Cesar, that's Cromwell, that's the Patter, and therefore the discussions about the power of the presidency and then how to elect him are almost impossible to follow in the speeches that are given and you're right. They try, is it going to be one person or three people, one from New England, one from the Middle States, one from the Southern States. Is it a lifetime appointment? Hamilton gets up and gives a six hour speech. It's his only speech at the Convention in which he argues for an elected
monarch who will serve a lifetime appointment. I don't know whether he really believed that because it's going to be hanging over his head for the rest of his life that he's a vowed monarchist. It's possible that Hamilton is being maybe overly clever. He's trying to make such an extreme position that when they compromise on something a little bit less, it'll be acceptable. In the end, the resolution is not achieved because of an argument. The resolution is achieved because of one person sitting in the room and his name is George Washington. He is the singular figure.
The convention itself would have never succeeded if he hadn't put his name on the list of people coming to the convention on the Virginia plan, and the decision about the presidency is completely resolved by the fact that well, we don't know how much power this office should have, but we do know that this is the guy that's going to occupy the office initially unquestioned. If Washington by the way knew that that was going to happen, I'm not sure he would have come to the convention because no president in American history did not want to be president more than George Washington. Nevertheless, at this point the thing worth noting, when they think about the presidency they can't reach a theoretical understanding
of how to define the office. They can't reach a very practical and personal decision that the first president will be one person Washington and he will be elected for a four year term that is renewable. It doesn't say for how long. Washington will set the limit on that in his presidency.
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