America Divided: The Impeachment of the 45th President of the United States
Zero transparency and/or accountability, claims of being above the law, not working with the other co-equal branches of government, evidence of illicit behaviors and actions, and the slippage of democracy. These are all things our founding fathers feared to happen in our great nation. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was an event to set up this countries government, and the goal was to be a non-monarch style rule that was present in Europe. The impeachment process was intended to protect the office of the presidency and restore faith in the process (Krishna, 1991).
In 1787 from twelve of the thirteen states came together in Philadelphia. With the exception of Rhode Island, due to their stance on being indifferent towards central government. The delegates met in the same place where they signed the Declaration of Independence, in order to think of how to best revise the Articles of Confederation. During this meeting at the Constitutional Convention consisted on discussing a stronger central government. One in which can get things done, make sure the states get along with one another, raise both taxes and armies. However, they didn’t want a central government that was to strong, because they didn’t want to create a monarchy here in the United States. So, they were looking for a balance of a government that was strong enough to get things done, but not so strong to promote tyranny (Linder, n.d.).
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The Virgina Plan was the first plan submitted for the creation of our new government at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Edmund Randolph and James Madison were the authors of the document. The plan favored larger states by giving them more power due to having larger populations. The creation of the two Houses (bicameral), and seats were based on a states population (Linder, n.d.). One House is elected by the people, and the other is selected by the states legislators themselves. The Chief Executive was also chosen by the Legislature, and so was the Judicial Branch. Thus, the Three Branch governmental system was proposed. This was the first proposal and small states were concerned. The major concern was being overpowered by larger states with larger populations. In a nut shell, this plan gives the Legislature a lot of power.
The Revolutionary War was focused on limiting what was seen as dangerous power of the King of Great Britton (Maier, n.d.). Many of our found fathers point out the fact that the King could both decide to go to war, and also direct the war. The founders of the Constitutional Convention were very explicit that they wanted to split that apart (Hamburger, 1993). There are multiple references in the debates of issues of the King. Alexander Hamilton, a person who felt very strongly about Executive Power, stated that the President would have way more limited power. He said the President only directs military operations. By restricting the power of the Executive, the founding fathers saw an opportunity to empower the Legislature. In doing so, protecting the Legislature from corrupt influences. Thomas Jefferson talked about the dangers of the “Dogs of War,” transferring the power of who gets to let them loose. They felt it shouldn’t be held by one person, or even just one body of people. You need both houses of Congress, then it heads to the Presidents desk. When the founding fathers created the American Republic, they consciously decided to limit the power of any individual actor (Federalist Papers #66, n.d.). Including being able to check each other, to balance each other, and that includes both foreign and domestic. They wanted to avoid the chaos of Europe. They didn’t want tyranny to encapsulate the government here at home. The impeachment process was and is meant to be the ultimate check on lawlessness from a President.
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