The Essential Meaning of Executive Power

Abstract

The draft article attempts to reconstruct the essential meaning of executive power by recounting the way political theorists and others used the phrase prior to the Constitution's ratification. Using evidence drawn from primary and secondary sources, the piece documents the simple claim that the executive power is the power to execute the law. The piece also underscores that the founding generation universally understood that the President would superintend federal law execution. Finally, the piece attempts to make sense of the other constitutional provisions that are often deemed relevant to law execution and suggests how to harmonize these provisions with the essential meaning of executive power.