The President’s Legislative Powers

This chapter explains the king's extensive powers to control the legislative branch and decide when and whether to call a parliament. It details how the Crown lost control over the timing of elections and sessions of Parliament after the Glorious Revolution. It also refers to colonial governors that exercised parallel prerogatives over colonial legislatures and introduced and dismissed legislative assemblies at will that frustrated the expression of popular will. The chapter analyzes the colonial assemblies of Massachusetts, South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia, which were all dissolved in retaliation for their criticism of taxation. It discusses how the president was stripped of all powers with respect to the timing and conduct of elections, and almost all power over the timing of legislative sessions.