ABSTRACT
The constitutional, presidential pattern of government has made crisis rule more difficult, and it has singled out the chief executive as the chief instrument of crisis authority. The varieties of crisis government in the United States are few and limited, for even if public opinion be willing, the Constitution will remain a repressive brake, and changes will be made only under the most terrific pressure of events. Martial law as an instrument of emergency government on the national level is a hazy mass of concepts, based largely on analogies from state practice. Presidential ascendancy in any condition of emergency is built squarely upon two solid foundations, initiative and delegation. The natural difficulty that presidential governments experience in securing the necessary harmony of executive and legislature in time of crisis finds one of its most striking examples in the government of the United States.
