M2: Against Monarchic Authority

Colonial Grievances Against Monarchical Power:
- Colonial opposition and rebellion were predominantly targeted at the English constitutional monarchy and king.
- The British monarch was viewed as wielding virtually untrammeled and unchecked power across all facets of governance.
- The king combined multiple governmental roles into a single authority by:
  - Drafting and making legal directives.
  - Enforcing those legal directives.
  - Sitting in judgment over violations of those same directives.

Establishment of Separate Departments:
- To prevent the concentration of untrammeled authority, the early American colonies explicitly separated and disentangled the three fundamental functions of government into distinct departments:
  - Legislative Power: The sole authority to create laws.
  - Executive Power: The authority to enforce laws.
  - Judicial Power: The authority to interpret and decide how laws apply to specific legal violations.
- This formal division of functions was considered essential both in drafting state-level frameworks and in structuring the national Constitution.

Institutional Power Expansion:
- A core premise of political science asserts that government institutions inherently attempt to maximize and expand their own authority relative to other branches.
- Institutional power grabs are an inescapable, fundamental feature of governmental behavior.
Requirement for Constitutional Safeguards:
- A functional separation of powers system must contain structural mechanisms to withstand and actively protect against inter-branch power expansion over time and under changing circumstances.

Deliberate Weakening of the Executive Branch:
- Constitutional architects intentionally designed the executive department to be the weakest of the three branches of government.
- This structural weakness was intended as a durable guard against the dangerous consolidation of power in a single leader.
Risk of Executive Populism:
- An elected executive inherently possesses the unique capacity to mobilize widespread public support.
- Framers feared that a popular executive could harness public enthusiasm to siphon authority away from the legislative and judicial branches, effectively converting an elected presidency into a monarchy.
Allocation of War Powers:
- British Model: The British king possessed unilateral authority to declare war, raise and support armies, and direct war powers.
- American Constitutional Model: The framers explicitly rejected the British monarchical model by denying war-making powers to the President.
- Congressional Authority: The power to declare war, as well as the power to raise and support armies, was explicitly assigned to Congress.

Maintaining Long-Term Separation:
- Designing durable structural boundaries prevents changing political conditions from eroding constitutional limits.
Addressing Potential Violations:
- Constitutional analysis requires identifying potential and actual violations where executive, legislative, or judicial actions impermissibly cross departmental boundaries.
- Evaluating systemic remedies is necessary to restore legal equilibrium when institutional overlaps or power grabs occur.

Governing Framework in the 1780s:
- The Articles of Confederation served as the initial proto-constitution for the United States during the 1780s.
Deficiencies of the Articles of Confederation:
- Constitutional architects recognized significant structural flaws in the Articles of Confederation.
- Overcorrection Against Monarchy: The drafters' intense anti-monarchical bias led to an overcorrection, creating a national government that was excessively weak across all domains.
- Omission of an Executive Branch: The Articles omitted a national executive entirely, leaving the federal government without the structural capacity to enforce national laws.