Constitutionalism and Presidential Prerogative: Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian Perspectives

An Open Letter to "Dirty Hands" Theorists from a Public Manager

“…The theorists come from philosophy, ethics, political science, religious studies, sociology, and public administration. A small sample of the literature might include Bellamy 2007;Calhoun 2004;Fatovic 2004;Griffin 1989;Newbold 2005;Nielsen 1996;Provis 2005;Rynard and Shugarman 2000;Sutherland 1995;Thompson 1993;Walzer 1973;andde Wijze 1994, 2002. public integrity summer 2014 • 313 An Open Letter to "Dirty Hands" Theorists from a Public Manager reFerences…”

The dynamics of effective corrupt leadership: Lessons from Rafik Hariri's political career in Lebanon

“…If Norton and Schwelder (1994: 62) were correct in asserting that Hariri was the George Washington of post-civil war Lebanon, their assessment erred by failing to note that Hariri appointed his business cronies, unlike the charismatic and pragmatic George Washington. The first American president appointed the brilliant attorney and political thinker, Alexander Hamilton, to define the formal doctrine of presidential prerogative, thus creating a powerful shield to protect him from the moral taint of Republican Party charges of corruption and dictatorship (Fastovic, 2004). It can thus be argued that Washington's sterling reputation as a founding American father was the result of Hamilton's skills to neutralize Republican opponents' anti-corruption charges against his mentor.…”

“…It can thus be argued that Washington's sterling reputation as a founding American father was the result of Hamilton's skills to neutralize Republican opponents' anti-corruption charges against his mentor. In his initial presidential term, Washington operated in a culturally loose web of political accountability, as there were few hard and fast rules to designate what the president could legally do in his executive role (Fastovic, 2004). Thus, without Hamilton's creation of the prerogative doctrine, Americans may now remember Washington as a power hungry despot whose actions prefigured later Watergate-style corruption.…”

The New Unitary Executive and Democratic Theory: The Problem of Alexander Hamilton

“…For example, Madison's 1793 critique of Hamilton's writings as Pacificus and his handling of the War of 1812 (J. In direct contradistinction to Hamilton, Jefferson aimed to ground the legitimacy of execution on consent, and for this reason, avoided legalistic assertions of the constitutionality of his vigorous use of executive power (Bailey 2004;Fatovic 2004;Schlesinger 1973). A similar complication for unitarians arises in Madison's argument for presidential removal powers.…”

“…4 More important, in The Federalist, Hamilton defended "energy" in the executive, and, in that argument, wrote that "unity in the executive" was necessary both for energy and for democratic accountability. In the past decade, political scientists have returned to the history of political thought and American political development to address the problem of executive power, particularly regarding the constitutionality of prerogative (Arnold 2007;Bailey 2004;Corbett 2006;Fatovic 2004;Kleinerman 2005;Thomas 2000;Ward 2005) and the ability of the people to discern and judge it (Feldman 2008;Kleinerman 2007). However, as we will see, Hamilton's making unity in the executive compatible with, and even necessary to, the republican form points to a larger and underappreciated question in Hamilton's political thought.…”