Channels, Spring 2019

Channels • 2019 • Volume 3 • Number 2 Page 31 words contain the breadth of the president’s responsibilities: serve as commander in chief of the U.S. military; make treaties with foreign nations; nominate ambassadors and cabinet officials; receive ambassadors and other public officials from foreign countries; and, execute the laws faithfully. Since the beginnings of the country, the president has taken the central role in foreign policymaking: The president’s constitutional powers, as previously explained, point to the centrality of the president in the constitutional scheme of the federal government. As the central representative of the United States to the world, the president serves as head of state, a role that denotes a level of prominence when considering foreign policy. For example, the president regularly meets with world leaders, specifically at global summits or in individual visits to countries. The president also negotiates trade deals for the United States – usually with the aid of cabinet-level members and ambassadors – as well as peace treaties. However, considering the Constitution, the functions of the presidency have expanded dramatically throughout the United States’ history, specifically within the context of foreign policymaking. And although the president has regularly assumed centrality and pre-eminence in foreign affairs policymaking, the limitations of his duties and responsibilities have consistently come into question. Presidents have abused war making and foreign affairs under the guise of national security concerns, while other presidents refused to act in certain scenarios over constitutional concerns. Some have seen these abuses of power as an encroachment on the constitutional powers of the legislative branch. 3 The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War, or the use of military action by President Lincoln in the South – before a declaration of war had been issued by Congress – are just two of several examples of situations in which the Constitution does not explicitly state whether or not his actions were technically constitutional given the context of the Civil War. Additionally, controversial decisions like the Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions or Polk’s War Message to Congress – each based on limited or disputable information – dilute the president’s clear and decisive role in foreign policy and war making. Other issues – like the constitutionality of the Louisiana Purchase, or the dropping of the atomic bombs in 1945 by President Truman – bring to mind the increasingly multifaceted and ambiguous nature of the president’s constitutional limitations and practical applications. The Federalist Papers In order to consider the executive branch within its constitutional limits, it is then prudent to consider the legislative and judicial branches’ constitutional powers with respect to foreign policy and international security, and consider the checks and balances asserted by each branch. The government designed by the Founders denotes a strong belief in the separation of powers, as is confirmed in the three articles which specifically delineate powers to three separate branches within the federal scheme of government. Additionally, the Federalist Papers , a series of newspaper articles written in support of the Constitution in the time of its formation, attest to the Founders’ strong desire to separate the branches of government into three separate, yet coordinate branches of within the federal government system. The designers of the U.S. Constitution reasoned in Federalist Paper No. 47 that “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of 3 Masters, Jonathan. “U.S. Foreign Policy Powers: Congress and the President.” Council on Foreign Relations , 2 March 2017. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-foreign-policy-powers-congress-and-president