ABSTRACT
Inventing the American presidency was an experiment in republican executive development. The American system of separation of powers worked reasonably well. As the United States was not, until the twentieth century, a world military or economic power, the United States did quite well with a limited executive. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan made a concerted effort to revive the imperial presidency, but was stopped cold when the crimes of the Iran-Contra scandal were exposed. The post-World War II presidency kept pushing the limits of power, and after a time, Congress, the courts, and the public pushed back. The war against terrorism is but the latest of many challenges to constitutional government. Only an educated and aroused citizenry committed to the principles of constitutionalism and the rule of law can protect the republic. Governing is a process in which humans are called upon to make complex judgments in a confusing world.
