Factors in the growth of presidential power?

Answer 1

1. Congressional deference: It is easier to let another person do the job (i.e. the national budget). Congress was originally supposed to have set the budget for the nation, but decided to hand that job over to the new president in office. In this way they themselves have expanded the Power of the president.
2. Willingness of a president to set new precedents. For example, Andrew Jackson began using the veto in a new way. Earlier presidents used to veto only when the believed a bill violated the Constitution. Jackson vetoes legislation just because he thought it was a bad idea. Presidents now order military strikes that early president swould not have considered doing without the support of Congress. Obama has decided not to enforce parts of the Immigration law, thereby in effect changing the law.
3. Increased power by the federal government. The federal government now is now deeply involved in areas such as education and social services that used to be left to the states and the feds can easily override state laws. The president gains power whenever the federal government gains power.
4. Improved communication media: The President can go on TV and present his case to the nation. If he a persuasive speaker, he can people to appeal Congress to do what the President wants.

Note that these reasons are all related and intertwined. It is not always clear which are the cause and which are the effect.

Answer 2

Executive power has increased in America nearly since its inception. Thomas Jefferson bypassed constitutional limits with his purchase of Louisiana and his unauthorized deployment of troops against the Barbary pirates. President James K. Polk sent troops to Mexico, instigating war. He then manipulated Congress into declaring a state of war. A few decades later, Lincoln flirted with many constitutional boundaries during the Civil War. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus, tried civilians in military courts, and emancipated slaves. The list continues even after Lincoln: Theodore Roosevelt sent troops into multiple Caribbean countries and established governments without Congressional approval. In 1939, Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared a limited national emergency, which gave him the power to "organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all means of communication and transportation, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens." Following in these previous precedents of increased executive power, Harry S. Truman sent troops into the Korean War and ordered the seizure of the nation's steel mills, both without Congressional approval. Years later, Richard Nixon bogusly invoked prior restraint in his attempts to conceal the Watergate tapes from the people. President George W. Bush authorized warrantless wiretapping through the PATRIOT ACT and sanction the unlawful detention of enemy combatants with Military Commissions Act. These are only some examples of the countless instances in which presidents have increased presidential power. In most cases (all except for Nixon's) presidents have done so either to strive for a "more perfect union" as stated in the Preamble of the Constitution" or to respond to the presence of a militant threat. Whatever the case, through the system of checks and balances, so intricately woven into the United State's system of government, and through the ideal of popular sovereignty (the president is held accountable to the people) presidential power can easily be checked, reversed, or abolished by the people of the United States.

Answer 3

nuclear power