Thomas Jefferson and Executive Power

By revisiting Thomas Jefferson's understanding of executive power this book offers a new understanding of the origins of presidential power. Before Jefferson was elected president, he arrived at a way to resolve the tension between constitutionalism and executive power. Because his solution would preserve a strict interpretation of the Constitution as well as transform the precedents left by his Federalist predecessors, it provided an alternative to Alexander Hamilton's understanding of executive power. In fact, a more thorough account of Jefferson's political career suggests that Jefferson envisioned an executive that was powerful, or 'energetic', because it would be more explicitly attached to the majority will. Jefferson's Revolution of 1800, often portrayed as a reversal of the strong presidency, was itself premised on energy in the executive and was part of Jefferson's project to enable the Constitution to survive and even flourish in a world governed by necessity.

1. 'The execution of laws is more important than the making of them': reconciling executive energy with democracy; 2. Executive power and the Virginia executive; 3. Executive power and the constitution of 1787; 4. 'To place before mankind the common sense of the subject': declarations of principle; 5. The real revolution of 1800: Jefferson's transformation of the inaugural address; 6. To 'produce a union of the powers of the whole': Jefferson's transformation of the appointment and removal powers; 7. The Louisiana Purchase; 8. To 'complete their entire union of opinion': the twelfth amendment as amendment to end all amendments; 9. 'To bring their wills to a point of union and effect': declarations and presidential speech; 10. Development and difficulties.

Examines Thomas Jefferson's attempt to combine respect for a fundamental Constitution with the fact that no set of laws can foresee every event. His solution to this problem offers a democratic, yet strong, executive as an alternative to the more common, Hamiltonian solution.

Jeremy D. Bailey is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston. He was the co-winner of the 2004 APSA E. E. Schattschneider Award for best dissertation in American politics written in 2002 or 2003 and has received fellowships from the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.