Debate Begins on the Presidency

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Resolution 7 as a debate over the Virginia Plan, which became a debate about which of the prerogative powers of the Crown should be entrusted to a republican executive. It talks about Charles Pinckney, who declared that the Resolution's broad vesting of executive rights would include prerogative powers of the Crown, making the President a virtual monarch. It also mentions Wilson and John Rutledge, who defended against Pinckney's charge of incipient monarchy. The chapter points out that Wilson was the only delegate to utter the term “prerogative,” noting that every comment made in the initial debate over the scope of executive power can be understood in light of the problem of prerogative. It discusses John Locke, who dubbed the powers related to foreign affairs as “federative,” although executive and federative powers are distinct in themselves.