Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which were carefully designed by the Founding Fathers to represent the interests of both large and small states. Congress has the power to create laws, declare war, and approve the president's appointments and treaties. The president has executive powers like vetoing laws and commanding the military, but is checked by Congress's ability to override vetoes or impeach. This system of separation of powers and checks and balances was put in place by the Founders to prevent any one branch from becoming too dominant and to guard against tyranny. Over time, in response to crises like the Civil War and Great Depression, presidents have expanded their powers to meet the needs of governing, shifting

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Figures title: 2Congress and the President
Congress and the President
The way our legislative and the executive branches run our
country have its roots to the beginning of our country and our
constitution. Our founding fathers were intent on making sure
neither the president had too much power and wanted to be sure
they had very specific powers and roles within our new
government. These two powerful and important roles are known
as Congress and the Presidency.Congress
Congress is a Bicameral house made up of the Senate and the
House of Representatives. The makeup of these two houses was
chosen very carefully by our founding fathers at the
Constitutional convention. The Senate is made up by two
senators from each state as to give all states equal
representation. This idea was proposed through the New Jersey
Plan which proposed that all states had “equal representation
regardless of population” (“The Almost Painless Guide, ”2000).
The house of representative, on the other hand, is built based on
the population of each state with the larger states having more
representatives than the smaller states an idea proposed by the
Virginia Plan laid out at the Constitutional Convention. These
two parts that make up the legislative branch are tasked with
making new laws, handling any impeachment proceedings,
recommend amendments to the constitution, make budgets, and
check the president’s decisions on personnel and treaties and
vetoes by gaining a two-thirds vote to stop any of his decisions.
Powers of the President and Congress
Through Article I section 8 of the constitution congress
has its most important power which is the ability to create laws.
When a bill or any proposed law is up for a vote it can only be

2. passed if the House of Representatives and the Senate both
approve it in the same form. Congress also has the powers to
“declare war, coin money, raise an army and navy, regulate
commerce, establish rules of immigration and naturalization,
and establish the federal courts and their jurisdictions ("The
Powers of Congress", 2018). According to Article II of the
constitution, the president has the power to commission officers
of the armed forces, grant reprieves, and pardons, convene
Congress in special sessions, wield executive power, receive
ambassadors, and ensure that laws are being executed correctly.
One of the aforementioned executive powers the president has is
to veto a law or bill though even if that happens congress can
overturn the veto with a two-thirds vote.
Checks and Balances
The founding fathers of the US were wise to set up a form
of checks and balances built into the constitution to ensure no
branch of government could garner too much power and guard
against tyranny. “If men were angels, no government would be
necessary,” James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers, of
the necessity for checks and balances. “In framing a government
which is to be administered by men over men, the great
difficulty is this: You must first enable the government to
control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control
itself.” (History.com Editors, 2017). A few examples of this
checks and balance system is that our president is the
commander and chief of our military, but Congress has to
appropriate military funds and must vote to declare war. The
Supreme court can declare laws or presidential actions
unconstitutional and strike the actions from the law. The
president can change the outlook of this judiciary branch with
his appointments into the supreme court but must get the
approval of Congress for his choice to actually get the job. And
when Congress doesn’t agree with a decision made by the
supreme court the can simply make an amendment to the
constitution or chose to proceed with impeachment of judges or
the president.

3. Roles, and Responsibilities of the President
The president’s roles include chief of staff, chief executive,
chief administrator, chief diplomat, commander in chief, chief
legislator, party chief, and chief citizen. Within these roles, the
president is expected to not only be the leader of the country
but to also run our military. As the chief executive, the
president is expected to execute laws, appoint federal officials,
and grants reprieves and pardons. The role of chief diplomat
calls for the president to negotiate with other countries. As the
chief legislator, they will sign or veto bills or laws, introduce
their own legislation, and work on budgets with Congress.
Finally, as the party chief, they are expected to campaign for
other candidates in the party in hopes to get others elected.
Evolution of the Presidency
Until the 1930s Congress was the dominant branch of our
government. Now as we analyze the balance of power, we will
see that the executive branch has at least equal power as the
legislative branch. Because of presidents like Abraham Lincoln,
Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Andrew Jackson we
saw a shift from the president playing second fiddle to Congress
and to the forefront of the nation. In both cases, the presidents
amassed more power out of necessity. Lincoln was dealing with
the civil war and suspended Habeas Corpus and jailed people
for disloyalty. Jackson popularized party loyalty and used his
veto powers extensively. Roosevelt elected to four terms
worked hard to expand the nations international powers of the
country with World War II looming and the Great depression it
was important to reach outwards. Wilson worked closely with
Congress as World War I came and it afforded him the
opportunity to lead the country in international affairs which
Roosevelt expanded upon.
Conclusion
Our founding fathers were nothing short of genius as they wrote
the worlds longest active constitution. They made sure to
separate the powers among the three branches and not afford to
much power to any branch. They were also very specific in who

4. had what powers and who checked each of those powers. They
also afforded us the ability to amend the constitution as the
country needs and as the world has changed so have some of
those constitutional laws. Yet there have been times the
president has had to take some more power in the sake of the
country surviving great tragedies. As we and a nation grow and
change with the world so have our laws and it was all laid out
for us long ago by our founding fathers.
References
The almost painless guide to the executive branch [Video file].
(2000). Retrieved November 5, 2018, from
https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=18566&xtid
=47591
The Powers of Congress (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.ushistory.org/gov/6a.asp
History.com Editors. (2017). History. Retrieved from
https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/checks-and-
balances