The Founding Fathers created what can best be described as a presidential system of government at the national level. They did this by making the president independent of the Congress. In other words, the president serves at the pleasure of the voters, and NOT at the
pleasure of members of Congress. It can be argued that the Founding Fathers intended that presidential independence from Congress would strengthen the power of the office. If that was thought to be true in the early years of our nation's history, it has become even more
true in the years since the Civil War. Your first charge in this essay is to decide if this presidential system was a good idea or not. Once you have done that select any three presidencies between Washington and Lincoln and make your case for or against the presidential system as a good thing or a not so good thing. Along the way, make a minimum of four references to specific documents/sources in at least two separate Hollitz chapters.