Presidential Power

Documents Decoded

Brian M. Harward

• Publisher: ABC-CLIO
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781610698290
• eBook ISBN: 9798216132004
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This volume uses essential and illuminating primary documents as a portal for understanding the evolution and present parameters of presidential power, the relationship between America's three branches of government, and why wartime often leads presidents to claim expansive powers and authority.

Presidential Power: Documents Decoded provides a thorough examination of the historical and political context of key, critical moments in constitutional history and presidential power that makes possible opportunities for students to explore American politics in an interesting, memorable, and dynamic way. Each of the case studies reveals important dimensions of the constitutional order in the United States—and enables readers to better grasp how executive power has shifted and expanded.

The book takes specific events, people, institutions, or ideas and places them in a broader context so that readers can observe patterns and make connections among seemingly disparate happenings and concepts relating to executive power. Accompanied by explanatory sidebars, the included primary sources let students examine actual documentary evidence of key elements of executive power—for example, the presidential memorandum, the National Security cable, and the prisoner's petition—and reach their own judgment of the implications of that document for the American political system.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Declaration of Neutrality
• The Alien and Sedition Acts
• The Louisiana Purchase
• Andrew Jackson and the Cherokee Indian Cases
• Polk Sends Troops to the U.S.-Mexico Border
• The Blockade of Southern Ports
• The Arrest of John Merryman
• Lincoln Uses War Powers to Free the Slaves
• Lincoln’s Defense of the Suspension of Habeas Corpus
• Limits on Trials by Military Commissions
• The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
• The Spanish-American War
• The Square Deal
• Teddy Roosevelt’s Views Coalesce
• The “New Freedom” Approach
• The Espionage Act of 1917
• The Delegation of Congressional Power
• FDR’s First 100 Days
• The Four Horsemen
• Presidents and Foreign Affairs
• The Court Packing Plan
• The Four Freedoms
• Pearl Harbor
• Operation Pastorius: The Nazi Saboteurs
• Ex Parte Quirin
• Japanese Internment
• The Steel Seizure Case
• Bay of Pigs Invasion
• Watergate
• Presidential Impoundment of Funds
• The Pentagon Papers
• War Powers Resolution
• Executive Privilege
• The Church Committee Hearings and FISA
• The Legislative Veto
• The Chevron Two-Step
• Signing Statements as Policy Devices
• The Iran/Contra Affair
• Appointment and Removal Power
• The Iran/Contra Affair
• The Paula Jones Case
• The Line Item Veto
• Impeachment of President Clinton
• Responding to 9/11
• War in Afghanistan: Operation Enduring Freedom
• USA PATRIOT Act
• Habeas Corpus and Guantanamo Bay
• The Axis of Evil
• Enemy Combatants
• The Torture Memos
• Cheney and the Energy Task Force
• U.S. Citizens as Enemy Combatants
• Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs)
• Warrantless Wiretapping
• Suspension of Habeas Corpus
• Limits on Signing Statements
• Detainee Policy under Obama
• The Continuation of the State Secrets Privilege
• Drone Strikes and Targeted Killings of U.S. Citizens
• Obama, Libya, and the War Powers Resolution
• Syria and an Expanding View of War Powers
• Obama’s Recess Appointments
• A New AUMF to Confront ISIS
• Snowden Leaks and a Revision of FISA
• Timeline
• Further Readings
• Index
• About the Author