The President and Vice President

In the founders’ words

• “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” James Madison, The Federalist No. 47 (1788-02-01)
• “But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.” James Madison, The Federalist No. 51 (1788-02-08)
• “Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws; to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice; to the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, of faction, and of anarchy.” Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 70 (1788-03-18)
• “The ingredients which constitute energy in the Executive are, first, unity; secondly, duration; thirdly, an adequate provision for its support; fourthly, competent powers.” Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 70 (1788-03-18)
• “Mr. RANDOLPH strenuously opposed a unity in the Executive magistracy. He regarded it as the foetus of monarchy. We had he said no motive to be governed by the British Governmt. as our prototype. He did not mean however to throw censure on that Excellent fabric. If we were in a situation to copy it he did not know that he should be opposed to it; but the fixt genius of the people of America required a different form of Government. He could not see why the great requisites for the Executive department, vigor, despatch & responsibility could not be found in three men, as well as in one man.” James Madison, Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention, June 1, 1787 (1787-06-01)
• “Mr. WILSON said that unity in the Executive instead of being the fetus of monarchy would be the best safeguard against tyranny. He repeated that he was not governed by the British Model which was inapplicable to the situation of this Country; the extent of which was so great, and the manners so republican, that nothing but a great confederated Republic would do for it.” James Madison, Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention, June 1, 1787 (1787-06-01)
• “It is remarked by Montesquieu, in treating of republics, that in all magistracies, the greatness of the power must be compensated by the brevity of the duration; and that a longer time than a year, would be dangerous.” Cato (attributed to George Clinton), Cato, No. 4 (1787-11-08)
• “THE mode of appointment of the Chief Magistrate of the United States is almost the only part of the system, of any consequence, which has escaped without severe censure, or which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its opponents.” Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 68 (1788-03-14)
• “It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it, not to any preestablished body, but to men chosen by the people for the special purpose, and at the particular conjuncture.” Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 68 (1788-03-14)
• “The people at large was in his opinion the fittest in itself. It would be as likely as any that could be devised to produce an Executive Magistrate of distinguished Character. The people generally could only know & vote for some Citizen whose merits had rendered him an object of general attention & esteem. There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes.” James Madison, Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention, July 19, 1787 (1787-07-19)
• “It is indispensable, too, that the president should be a natural born citizen of the United States; or a citizen at the adoption of the constitution, and for fourteen years before his election. This permission of a naturalized citizen to become president is an exception from the great fundamental policy of all governments, to exclude foreign influence from their executive councils and duties.” Joseph Story, Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, sections 1472-73 (1833-01-01)
• “Considering the nature of the duties, the extent of the information, and the solid wisdom and experience required in the executive department, no one can reasonably doubt the propriety of some qualification of age.” Joseph Story, Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, sections 1472-73 (1833-01-01)

Public-domain primary sources, quoted word for word and checked against the linked text.

Leading Supreme Court cases

• McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1 (1892)
• Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1926)
• Humphrey's Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935) · overruled by Trump v. Slaughter (2026)
• United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U.S. 304 (1936)
• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
• United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Dames & Moore v. Regan, 453 U.S. 654 (1981)
• Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
• Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988)
• Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997)
• Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000)
• Medellín v. Texas, 552 U.S. 491 (2008)
• Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, 561 U.S. 477 (2010)
• Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. 578 (2020)
• Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 591 U.S. 197 (2020)
• Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, 591 U.S. 848 (2020)
• Trump v. Vance, 591 U.S. 786 (2020)
• Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. ___ (2024)
• Trump v. Slaughter, 609 U.S. ___ (2026)

Cite this page

Values for America Constitution Explorer, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution (text: National Archives transcription, public domain), Article II, Section 1, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution/article-2/section-1

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