Important Constitutional Mandates of Legislative Presidential Power in America (Term Paper Sample)

 IMPORTANT CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATES OF LEGISLATIVE PRESIDENTIAL POWER IN AMERICA
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 Important Constitutional Mandates of Legislative Presidential Power in America
Introduction
The government has a role of providing basic needs to its citizens. However, a government has specific principles of operation and governance that are provided in the constitution of the country. The constitution provides the mandate for every individual and the limitation of the practice of the rights of the citizens. It also provides the procedure for electing people to leadership positions and how those people should conduct themselves while in the leadership positions. The United States Constitution provides the mandate under which the president can act and also prohibits circumstances under which the president cannot act. However in the current world the people who are elected to leadership positions determine how effective the law can be used for promoting justice and development for the nation. The paper will focus on the important legislative powers of the president of the United States and how well they utilize their power in manipulating the essential changes in the government.
The State of Union Address
The State of Union Address is in Article II Section 3 of the United States Constitution. The history of the formulation of the article dates back to the early 1790s under President George Washington. The first presidential address was done by Washington on January 8th, 1790 at New York City (Frum 2000). The tradition continued till the year 1801 when Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice because he felt it was too monarchical and was like a speech delivered from the throne of power. Jefferson instead wrote his speeches and presented them to Congress, and it was read by the Clerk of the Congress. The system continued till the year 1913 when Woodrow Wilson took power and reestablished the system of addressing the nationally personally as the president (Frum 2000). The system continued but with some exception like in the year 1981 the president wrote to the Congress and it was read on his behalf. Since the introduction of the address, there have been several controversies surrounding the issue.
The term State of the Union Address was first used by Franklin Roosevelt and was later accepted in the year 1947 as the general term instead of the President's Annual Message to Congress (Shogan 2015). It is important to note that term the state of the Union address came in when the country was entering the Second World War. The president had to deliver the speech on January 20th, 1934. Constitutional amendments were made which made the delivery of the speech constitutionally legal issue, and all the presidents had to make the State of Nation address as by the constitution.
Article II Section 3 says, "He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." (Kolakowski and Neale 2006) One issue that arises in the clause is that it does not specify when the address should be done. However, the 20th amendment brought the exact date to be on 23rd January of every year. All the years before the speech had been delivered by December (Shogan 2015). At first the speech was taken to be the speech delivered by the President to the Congress. Later years it emerged that the speech had to be broadcast live and therefore it became the president speaking with the United States citizens.
There have been several debates from different groups on what exactly the State of Union Address should consist. The opposition has argued on several occasions that the address is a move that has been used by the presidents to gain support from the citizens. The failures to address the common problems and issues affecting the country have been given much attention by the opposition as some of the key areas that the governments have failed to address. The very common issues that are focused on by the president include the position of the country on the world map. The State of the Union Address has focused more on addressing the challenges that the nation is facing in the international world map. Insecurity is a common threat to all countries of the world. The presidents’ speeches have concentrated more on addressing the security issues that the government is dealing within the international sphere. Though these problems are essential to be addressed, there are several problems that the citizens of the United States are facing. Addressing international security threats and ensuring that the world is secure is one of the agendas of the United States but does not help the United States citizens directly.
More often speeches about the aid that the government is providing to other countries of the world have been focused on several presidential speeches. Instead of addressing the kind of efforts made by the government in helping the citizens of the United States access health care services the issues that are addressed are of international matters (Cohen 2014). The approach by the presidents has not augured so well by those who are in opposition as they see the approach as a tool for the president to seek fame and support from the citizens. The outcomes in the speech presentation have come from the fact that the constitution does not clearly identify the kind of issues that should be tackled ion the State of the Nation address. Foreign policy and foreign relationships are the most frequently addressed issues in the State of Union Address (Cohen 2014). The citizens pay much attention to these foreign issues in understanding how the country has helped in dealing with other issues in other parts of the world.
Economic issues have also been given attention in the addresses by the presidents in regard to the American economy in relation to the rest of the world. The citizens are much concerned in the address about the economy because that is what affects them the most. Given the fact that the speech is aired on television and radio channels there is a broad audience who listen to the speech. Several people have to debate on the issues discussed and how they affect the citizens of America. When the president has finished the speech there comes in the address by the opposition in regard to their view in relation to what has been addressed by the president. The whole process results in a hot debate in all parts of the country. Therefore, there is a need for the president to identify the critical issues that they are to discuss so as not to be irrelevant in the society. However, the presidents in the past have sought for identification on the world map by addressing the international issues and how the U.S government has responded to the same.
Signing and Veto Bills
Article I, section 7, clause 2 of the United States Constitution requires that every bill before it becomes a law should be presented to the president. The Bill should pass through the House of Representatives and the Senate before it is given to the president. The president is required to sign it or reject resigning it and return it to the originating house who shall reconsider the rejection and the suggestions by the presidents. The originating house shall reconsider the suggestions, and if they are viable it shall require two-thirds of the members to approve it. Once approved it is moved to the second house who too shall reconsider the amendments made and if passed by two-thirds of the members then the president signs it into a law.
The framers of the constitution had an objective in the mind of preventing abuse and misuse of power by any arm of the government (Hammond and Miller 1987). The process of passing a bill had to be very thorough so that nobody has absolute control over what is to be made a bill. The Constitution does not talk about the veto power, but the President has only two options. Upon reception of the bill, the president does not alter any content of the bill but can make a suggestion on how he feels the bill should be presented. He has two options of either rejecting the bill or signing the bill. By rejecting the bill it does not mean that it is over, the bill is taken back to the originating house that considers the rejection and considers the suggestion made by the president. In case the president does not get satisfied with his requirements, if they are not taken into consideration, he can refuse to sign the bill. However if the bill is passed by two-thirds of the two houses and the president does not still sign it, it becomes law after ten days since its passing. If the two houses adjourn before the president’s sign or refuses to sign then the bill does not become law it becomes veto (McCarty 2000).
The history and use of the veto power, as claimed by the majority of the scholars, was never given much attention in the early 18th century (McCarty 2002). In the early 18th century, the veto power was not seen as a legislative power of the president but rather a doctrine that restricted the separation of powers among all the three arms of government. In the dimension of this view was drawn from the first fact that the veto power protected the president from interference from the other arms of the government. Secondly, it gave the president the authority to reject bills that were hastily or quickly drafted and that whose implementation was questionable to the public. The veto also allowed the president to reject the passing of unlawful bills (McCarty 2002). The veto looked at the president as the only ultimate person who can protect the public from the passing of the laws that were unconstitutional in the eyes of the citizens. However, little attention was given to the ability of the president influencing the passing of a bill that may be contrary to the needs...