National Power and the Presidency

Abstract

Leading constitutional framers Alexander Hamilton, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris are often justifiably seen as staunch allies: the foremost champions of expansive national and presidential power at the Founding. Yet, in underappreciated ways, their respective constitutional visions pointed in subtly distinct directions. Contemporary legal debates help bring this into focus. Participants in these disputes often claim, rather curiously, that under the Constitution national power is limited and circumscribed while presidential power is vast and expansive, often deriving essential support from Hamilton’s own Founding-era writings. Using these debates as an entry point, this chapter probes the conflicting ways Hamilton, Wilson, and Morris balanced commitment to national and presidential power. While Hamilton was ready, if only rhetorically, to expand the latter at the expense of the former, it is doubtful that Wilson or Morris were similarly willing. Delineating these neglected differences reveals that there was not one single brand of national constitutionalism at the founding but in fact several, each of which should be understood on its own terms.