Editing President of the United States (section)

== History and development ==
=== Origins ===
During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the [[Thirteen Colonies]], represented by the [[Second Continental Congress]] in [[Philadelphia]], declared themselves to be independent [[sovereign state]]s and no longer under [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] rule. The affirmation was made in the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], which was written predominantly by [[Thomas Jefferson]] and adopted unanimously on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress.<ref name="Milkis">{{Cite book |last1=Milkis |first1=Sidney M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkUvAAAAYAAJ |title=The American Presidency: Origins and Development |last2=Nelson |first2=Michael |publisher=CQ Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-87289-336-8 |edition=5th |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=1–25}}</ref> Recognizing the necessity of closely coordinating their efforts against the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]],<ref name="Kelly">{{Cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Alfred H. |title=The American Constitution: Its Origins and Development |last2=Harbison |first2=Winfred A. |last3=Belz |first3=Herman |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co. |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-393-96056-3 |edition=7th |volume=I |location=New York |pages=76–81}}</ref> the Continental Congress simultaneously began the process of drafting a constitution that would bind the [[U.S. state|states]] together. There were long debates on a number of issues, including representation and voting, and the exact powers to be given the central government.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776–1783/articles |title=Articles of Confederation, 1777–1781 |publisher=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=January 20, 2019 }}{{dead link|date=August 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Congress finished work on the [[Articles of Confederation]] to establish a [[Perpetual Union|perpetual union]] between the states in November 1777 and sent it to the states for [[ratification]].<ref name=Milkis />

Under the Articles, which [[Coming into force|took effect]] on March 1, 1781, the [[Congress of the Confederation]] was a central political authority without any legislative power. It could make its own resolutions, determinations, and regulations, but not any laws, and could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens.<ref name=Kelly /> This institutional design reflected how Americans believed the deposed British system of [[The Crown|Crown]] and [[Parliament of Great Britain|Parliament]] ought to have functioned with respect to the royal [[dominion]]: a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire.<ref name=Kelly /> The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some formerly [[royal prerogative]]s (e.g., making war, receiving ambassadors, etc.) to Congress; the remaining prerogatives were lodged within their own respective state governments. The members of Congress elected a [[President of the Continental Congress|president of the United States in Congress Assembled]] to preside over its deliberation as a neutral [[discussion moderator]]. Unrelated to and quite dissimilar from the later office of president of the United States, it was a largely ceremonial position without much influence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Richard J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ybmeEcpEvlsC |title=Founding the American Presidency |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=1999 |isbn=0-8476-9499-2 |location=Lanham, Maryland |page=1}}</ref>

In 1783, the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] secured independence for each of the former colonies. With peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs.<ref name=Milkis /> By 1786, Americans found their continental borders besieged and weak and their respective economies in crises as neighboring states agitated trade rivalries with one another. They witnessed their [[hard currency]] pouring into foreign markets to pay for imports, their [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] commerce preyed upon by [[North Africa]]n [[Barbary pirates|pirates]], and their foreign-financed Revolutionary War debts unpaid and accruing interest.<ref name=Milkis /> Civil and political unrest loomed.  Events such as the [[Newburgh Conspiracy]] and [[Shays' Rebellion]] demonstrated that the Articles of Confederation were not working.

Following the successful resolution of commercial and fishing disputes between [[Virginia]] and Maryland at the [[Mount Vernon Conference]] in 1785, Virginia called for a trade conference between all the states, set for September 1786 in [[Annapolis, Maryland]], with an aim toward resolving further-reaching interstate commercial antagonisms. When the [[Annapolis Convention (1786)|convention]] failed for lack of attendance due to suspicions among most of the other states, [[Alexander Hamilton]] of New York led the Annapolis delegates in a call for a convention to offer revisions to the Articles, to be held the next spring in [[Philadelphia]]. Prospects for the next convention appeared bleak until [[James Madison]] and [[Edmund Randolph]] succeeded in securing [[George Washington]]'s attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia.<ref name=Milkis /><ref name="Beeman">{{Cite book |last=Beeman |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/plainhonestmenm00beem |title=Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution |publisher=Random House |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8129-7684-7 |location=New York |url-access=registration}}</ref>

When the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] convened in May 1787, the 12 state delegations in attendance ([[Rhode Island]] did not send delegates) brought with them an accumulated experience over a diverse set of institutional arrangements between legislative and executive branches from within their respective state governments. Most states maintained a weak executive without veto or appointment powers, elected annually by the legislature to a single term only, sharing power with an executive council, and countered by a strong legislature.<ref name=Milkis /> [[New York (state)|New York]] offered the greatest exception, having a strong, unitary governor with veto and appointment power elected to a three-year term, and eligible for reelection to an indefinite number of terms thereafter.<ref name=Milkis /> It was through the closed-door negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]] emerged.

=== 1789–1933 ===
[[File:Gilbert Stuart Williamstown Portrait of George Washington.jpg|thumb|[[George Washington]], the first president of the United States]]

As the nation's first president, [[George Washington]] established many norms that would come to define the office.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://millercenter.org/president/washington/life-in-brief|title=George Washington: Life in Brief|last=Steven|first=Knott|date=October 4, 2016|work=Miller Center|access-date=September 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205001103/https://millercenter.org/president/washington/life-in-brief|archive-date=February 5, 2018|url-status=live|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Stockwell |first1=Mary |title=Presidential Precedents |url=https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/presidential-precedents/ |publisher=Mount Vernon, Washington Library, Center for Digital History |access-date=September 14, 2020}}</ref> His decision to retire after two terms helped address fears that the nation would devolve into monarchy and established a precedent that would not be broken until 1940 and would eventually be made permanent by the [[Twenty-Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-Second Amendment]]. By the end of his presidency, political parties had developed,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Feeling |first1=John |title=How the Rivalry Between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton Changed History |url=https://time.com/4210440/jefferson-hamilton-excerpt/ |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=Time |date=February 15, 2016}}</ref> with [[John Adams]] defeating [[Thomas Jefferson]] in 1796, the first truly contested presidential election.<ref>{{cite news |last1=NCC staff |title=On This Day: The first bitter, contested presidential election takes place |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-the-first-bitter-contested-presidential-election-takes-place |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=National Constitution Center |date=November 4, 2019}}</ref>  After Jefferson defeated Adams in 1800, he and his fellow Virginians [[James Madison]] and [[James Monroe]] would each serve two terms, eventually dominating the nation's politics during the [[Era of Good Feelings]] until Adams' son [[John Quincy Adams]] won election in 1824 after the [[Democratic-Republican Party]] split.

The election of [[Andrew Jackson]] in 1828 was a significant milestone, as Jackson was not part of the Virginia and Massachusetts elite that had held the presidency for its first 40 years.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Walsh |first1=Kenneth |title=The Most Consequential Elections in History: Andrew Jackson and the Election of 1828 |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/08/20/the-most-consequential-elections-in-history-andrew-jackson-and-the-election-of-1828 |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=U.S. News & World Report |date=August 20, 2008}}</ref> [[Jacksonian democracy]] sought to strengthen the presidency at the expense of Congress, while broadening public participation as the nation rapidly expanded westward. However, his successor, [[Martin Van Buren]], became unpopular after the [[Panic of 1837]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bomboy |first1=Scott |title=Martin Van Buren's legacy: Expert politician, mediocre president |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/martin-van-burens-legacy-was-more-than-just-muttonchops-2/ |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=National Constitution Center |date=December 5, 2017}}</ref> and the death of [[William Henry Harrison]] and subsequent poor relations between [[John Tyler]] and Congress led to further weakening of the office.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Freehling |first1=William |title=John Tyler: Impact and Legacy |url=https://millercenter.org/president/tyler/impact-and-legacy |website=University of Virginia, Miller Center |date=October 4, 2016 |access-date=September 14, 2020}}</ref> Including Van Buren, in the 24 years between 1837 and 1861, six presidential terms would be filled by eight different men, with none serving two terms.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McNamara |first1=Robert |title=Seven Presidents Served in the 20 Years Before the Civil War |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/presidents-before-the-civil-war-1773447 |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=ThoughtCo |date=July 3, 2019}}</ref> The Senate played an important role during this period, with the [[Great Triumvirate]] of [[Henry Clay]], [[Daniel Webster]], and [[John C. Calhoun]] playing key roles in shaping national policy in the 1830s and 1840s until debates over slavery began pulling the nation apart in the 1850s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heidler |first1=David |last2=Heidler |first2=Jeanne |title=The Great Triumvirate |url=https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/the-great-triumvirate.html |website=Essential Civil War Curriculum |access-date=September 14, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Winters |first1=Michael Sean |title='Do not trust in princes': the limits of politics |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/do-not-trust-princes-limits-politics |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=National Catholic Reporter |date=August 4, 2017}}</ref>

[[Abraham Lincoln]]'s leadership during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] has led historians to regard him as one of the nation's greatest presidents.{{efn-ua|Nearly all scholars rank Lincoln among the nation's top three presidents, with many placing him first. See [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States]] for a collection of survey results.}} The circumstances of the war and Republican domination of Congress made the office very powerful,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Frank |title=Lincoln's War Powers: Part Constitution, Part Trust |url=https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/lincolns_war_powers_part_constitution_part_trust |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=American Bar Association |date=April 1, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Weber |first1=Jennifer |title=Was Lincoln a Tyrant? |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/was-lincoln-a-tyrant/ |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=New York Times Opinionator |date=March 25, 2013}}</ref> and Lincoln's re-election in 1864 was the first time a president had been re-elected since Jackson in 1832. After Lincoln's assassination, his successor [[Andrew Johnson]] lost all political support<ref>{{cite web |last1=Varon |first1=Elizabeth |title=Andrew Johnson: Campaigns and Elections |url=https://millercenter.org/president/johnson/campaigns-and-elections |website=University of Virginia, Miller Center |date=October 4, 2016 |access-date=September 14, 2020}}</ref> and was nearly removed from office,<ref>{{cite news |last1=NCC Staff |title=The man whose impeachment vote saved Andrew Johnson |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-man-whose-impeachment-vote-saved-andrew-johnson |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=National Constitution Center |date=May 16, 2020}}</ref> with Congress remaining powerful during the two-term presidency of Civil War general [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. After the end of [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]], [[Grover Cleveland]] would eventually become the first Democratic president elected since before the war, running in three consecutive elections (1884, 1888, 1892) and winning twice. In 1900, [[William McKinley]] became the first incumbent to win re-election since Grant in 1872.

After McKinley's [[Assassination of William McKinley|assassination]] by [[Leon Czolgosz]] in 1901, [[Theodore Roosevelt]] became a dominant figure in American politics.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Boissoneault |first1=Lorraine |title=The Debate Over Executive Orders Began With Teddy Roosevelt's Mad Passion for Conservation |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-theodore-roosevelts-executive-orders-reshaped-countryand-presidency-180962908/ |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine (website) |date=April 17, 2017}}</ref> Historians believe Roosevelt permanently changed the political system by strengthening the presidency,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Posner |first1=Eric |title=The inevitability of the imperial presidency |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/political-bookworm/post/the-inevitability-of-the-imperial-presidency/2011/04/22/AFTRBoPE_blog.html |access-date=September 12, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=April 22, 2011}}</ref> with some key accomplishments including breaking up trusts, conservationism, labor reforms, making personal character as important as the issues, and hand-picking his successor, [[William Howard Taft]]. The following decade, [[Woodrow Wilson]] led the nation to victory during [[World War I]], although Wilson's proposal for the [[League of Nations]] was rejected by the Senate.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=Senate rejects League of Nations, Nov. 19, 2019 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/senate-rejects-league-of-nations-nov-19-1919-113006 |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=Politico |date=November 19, 2014}}</ref>  [[Warren Harding]], while popular in office, would see his legacy tarnished by scandals, especially [[Teapot Dome]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Robenalt |first1=James |title=If we weren't so obsessed with Warren G. Harding's sex life, we'd realize he was a pretty good president |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/13/if-we-werent-so-obsessed-with-warren-g-hardings-sex-life-wed-realize-he-was-a-pretty-good-president/ |access-date=September 14, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=August 13, 2015}}</ref> and [[Herbert Hoover]] quickly became very unpopular after failing to alleviate the [[Great Depression]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Richard Norton |last2=Walch |first2=Timothy |title=The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover |journal=Prologue Magazine |date=Summer 2004 |volume=36 |issue=2 |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/hoover-1.html |publisher=National Archives}}</ref>

=== Imperial presidency ===
{{Main|Imperial presidency}}
[[File:Franklin D Roosevelt - radio broadcast.jpg|thumb|President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] delivers a [[Fireside chats|radio address]] in 1933]]
The ascendancy of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1933 led further toward what historians now describe as the [[Imperial Presidency|Imperial presidency]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/imperialpresiden00schl|title=The Imperial Presidency|last=Schlesinger| first=Arthur M. Jr. |date=1973|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|others=Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana (Mississippi State University. Libraries)|isbn=0-395-17713-8|location=Boston|pages=x|oclc=704887|author-link=Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.|url-access=registration}}</ref> Backed by enormous Democratic majorities in Congress and public support for major change, Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] dramatically increased the size and scope of the federal government, including more executive agencies.<ref name=JohnYooFDR>{{cite journal |last1=Yoo |first1=John |title=Franklin Roosevelt and Presidential Power |journal=Chapman Law Review |date=February 14, 2018 |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=205 |ssrn=3123894 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3123894}}</ref>{{rp|211–12}} The traditionally small presidential staff was greatly expanded, with the [[Executive Office of the President]] being created in 1939, none of whom require Senate confirmation.<ref name=JohnYooFDR />{{rp|229–231}} Roosevelt's unprecedented re-election to a third and fourth term, the victory of the United States in [[World War II]], and the nation's growing economy all helped established the office as a position of global leadership.<ref name=JohnYooFDR />{{rp|269}} His successors, [[Harry Truman]] and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], each served two terms as the [[Cold War]] led the presidency to be viewed as the "[[leader of the free world]]",<ref>Tierney, Dominic (January 24, 2017). [https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/01/trump-free-world-leader/514232/ "What Does It Mean That Trump Is 'Leader of the Free World'?"]. ''[[The Atlantic]]''.</ref> while [[John F. Kennedy]] was a youthful and popular leader who benefited from the rise of television in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Eschner |first1=Kat |title=A Year Before His Presidential Debate, JFK Foresaw How TV Would Change Politics |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-jfk-had-say-about-tv-politics-180967172/ |access-date=September 12, 2020 |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine |date=November 14, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Simon |first1=Ron |title=See How JFK Created a Presidency for the Television Age |url=https://time.com/4795637/jfk-television/ |access-date=September 12, 2020 |publisher=Time |date=May 29, 2017}}</ref>

After [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] lost popular support due to the [[Vietnam War]] and [[Richard Nixon]]'s presidency collapsed in the [[Watergate scandal]], Congress enacted a series of reforms intended to reassert itself.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wallach |first1=Philip |title=When Congress won the American people's respect: Watergate |url=https://www.legbranch.org/2018-4-25-when-congress-won-the-american-peoples-respect-watergate/ |access-date=September 12, 2020 |publisher=LegBranch.org |date=April 26, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Berger |first1=Sam |last2=Tausanovitch |first2=Alex |title=Lessons From Watergate |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/reports/2018/07/30/454058/lessons-from-watergate/ |access-date=September 12, 2020 |publisher=Center for American Progress |date=July 30, 2018}}</ref> These included the [[War Powers Resolution]], enacted over Nixon's veto in 1973,<ref>{{USStat|87|555}}, 559–560.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Madden |first1=Richard |title=House and Senate Override Veto by Nixon on Curb of War Powers; Backers of Bill Win 3-Year Fight |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/08/archives/house-and-senate-override-veto-by-nixon-on-curb-of-war-powers.html |access-date=September 12, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 8, 1973}}</ref> and the [[Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974]] that sought to strengthen congressional fiscal powers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=Budget and Impoundment Control Act becomes law, July 12, 1974 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/12/budget-and-impoundment-control-act-becomes-law-july-12-1974-240372 |access-date=September 12, 2020 |publisher=Politico |date=July 12, 2017}}</ref> By 1976, [[Gerald Ford]] conceded that "the historic pendulum" had swung toward Congress, raising the possibility of a "disruptive" erosion of his ability to govern.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shabecoff |first1=Philip |title=Presidency Is Found Weaker Under Ford |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/28/archives/presidency-is-found-weaker-under-ford-curbs-on-exerting-power-seen.html |access-date=September 9, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 28, 1976}}</ref> Ford failed to win election to a full term and his successor, [[Jimmy Carter]], failed to win re-election.  [[Ronald Reagan]], who had been an actor before beginning his political career, used his talent as a communicator to help reshape the American agenda away from New Deal policies toward more conservative ideology.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Edwards |first1=Lee |title=What Made Reagan a Truly Great Communicator |url=https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/what-made-reagan-truly-great-communicator |access-date=September 12, 2020 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |date=February 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Brands |first1=H. W. |title=What Reagan Learned from FDR |url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159389 |access-date=September 12, 2020 |publisher=History News Network}}</ref>

With the Cold War ending and the United States becoming the world's undisputed leading power,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sorensen |first1=Theodore |title=America's First Post-Cold War President |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=Fall 1992 |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=13–30 |doi=10.2307/20045307 |jstor=20045307 |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1992-09-01/americas-first-post-cold-war-president}}</ref> [[Bill Clinton]], [[George W. Bush]], and [[Barack Obama]] each served two terms as president. Meanwhile, Congress and the nation gradually became more politically polarized, especially following the [[1994 United States elections|1994 mid-term elections]] that saw Republicans control the House for the first time in 40 years, and the rise of routine [[Filibuster in the United States Senate|filibusters]] in the Senate in recent decades.<ref>Barber, Michael; McCarty, Nolan (2013), [https://www.apsanet.org/portals/54/Files/Task%20Force%20Reports/Chapter2Mansbridge.pdf Causes and Consequences of Polarization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114193351/https://www.apsanet.org/portals/54/Files/Task%20Force%20Reports/Chapter2Mansbridge.pdf |date=January 14, 2021 }}, American Political Science Association Task Force on Negotiating Agreement in Politics report, at 19–20, 37–38.</ref> Recent presidents have thus increasingly focused on [[executive order]]s, agency regulations, and judicial appointments to implement major policies, at the expense of legislation and congressional power.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rudalevige |first1=Andrew |title=The Letter of the Law: Administrative Discretion and Obama's Domestic Unilateralism |journal=The Forum |date=April 1, 2014 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=29–59 |doi=10.1515/for-2014-0023 |s2cid=145237493 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Presidential elections in the 21st century have reflected this continuing polarization, with no candidate except Obama in 2008 winning by more than five percent of the popular vote and two, George W. Bush ([[2000 United States presidential election|2000]]) and [[Donald Trump]] ([[2016 United States presidential election|2016]]), winning in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote.{{efn-ua|See [[List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin]].}} Bush ([[2004 United States presidential election|2004]]) and Trump ([[2024 United States presidential election|2024]]) were later re-elected, winning both in the Electoral College and the popular vote.

=== Critics of presidency's evolution ===
The nation's [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] expected the [[United States Congress|Congress]], which was the first branch of government described in the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]], to be the dominant branch of government; however, they did not expect a strong executive department.<ref name="tws9nov09">{{Cite news |last=Kakutani |first=Michiko |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/books/06book.html |title=Unchecked and Unbalanced |date=July 6, 2007 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 9, 2009 |quote=the founding fathers had "scant affection for strong executives" like England's king, and{{nbsp}}... Bush White House's claims are rooted in ideas "about the 'divine' right of kings"{{nbsp}}... and that certainly did not find their way into our founding documents, the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of 1787.}}</ref> However, presidential power has shifted over time, which has resulted in claims that the modern presidency has become too powerful,<ref name="twsSEPnnxcvdf1">{{Cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-conquest-of-president_b_120582 |first=David |last=Sirota |title=The Conquest of Presidentialism |date=August 22, 2008 |work=HuffPost |access-date=September 20, 2009}}</ref><ref name="twsSEPnn5454">{{Cite news |last=Schimke |first=David |url=http://www.utne.com/2008-09-01/Politics/presidential-Power-to-the-People.aspx |title=Presidential Power to the People—Author Dana D. Nelson on why democracy demands that the next President be taken down a notch |date=September–October 2008 |work=Utne Reader |access-date=September 20, 2009}}</ref> unchecked, unbalanced,<ref name="tws9nov07">{{Cite news |last=Linker |first=Ross |url=http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2007/09/26/critical-of-presidency-prof-ginsberg-and-crenson-unite-18626/ |title=Critical of Presidency, Prof. Ginsberg and Crenson unite |date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=November 9, 2017 |publisher=The Johns-Hopkins Newsletter |quote=Presidents slowly but surely gain more and more power with both the public at large and other political institutions doing nothing to prevent it.}}</ref> and "monarchist" in nature.<ref name="tws9nov08">{{Cite news |last=Kakutani |first=Michiko |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/books/06book.html |title=Unchecked and Unbalanced |date=July 6, 2007 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 9, 2009 |quote=Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror By Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr. and Aziz Z. Huq (authors)}}</ref> In 2008 professor [[Dana D. Nelson]] expressed belief that presidents over the previous thirty years worked towards "undivided presidential control of the executive branch and its agencies".<ref name="twsSEPrt8jyh5">{{Cite news |last=Nelson |first=Dana D. |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-nelson11-2008oct11,0,224216.story |title=Opinion—The 'unitary executive' question—What do McCain and Obama think of the concept? |date=October 11, 2008 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 21, 2009}}</ref> She criticized proponents of the [[unitary executive theory]] for expanding "the many existing uncheckable executive powers—such as executive orders, decrees, memorandums, proclamations, national security directives and legislative signing statements—that already allow presidents to enact a good deal of foreign and domestic policy without aid, interference or consent from Congress".<ref name=twsSEPrt8jyh5 /> [[Bill Wilson (activist)|Bill Wilson]], board member of [[Americans for Limited Government]], opined that the expanded presidency was "the greatest threat ever to individual freedom and democratic rule".<ref name="tws8nov06">{{Cite news |last=Shane |first=Scott |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/us/politics/26activist.html |title=A Critic Finds Obama Policies a Perfect Target |date=September 25, 2009 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 8, 2009 |quote=There is the small, minority-owned firm with deep ties to President Obama's Chicago backers, made eligible by the Federal Reserve to handle potentially lucrative credit deals. "I want to know how these firms are picked and who picked them," Mr. Wilson, the group's president, tells his eager researchers.}}</ref>