essay

As a young graduate student who never been to Congress, Woodrow Wilson criticized the founding fathers on the separation of powers. Between his first book, Constitutional Government, in 1884, and his second book, Constitutional Government in the United States, in 1908, Wilson shifted his position on important structural features of the constitutional system. The first changed Wilson did in Constitutional Government, was to define the term “constitution” which he ignored in his first book. Second, Wilson focused his study on the presidential power defined by the constitution and third he also realized that external forces are now shaping American politics more than the intentions of the founders.

In his early work, Wilson view constitution as a document whose meaning persists over time. But later, Wilson’s main argument and analysis in Constitutional Government was his definition of the term “constitution.” He started by defining “constitutional government” as he said: “A constitutional government is one whose powers have been adapted to the interests of the people and to the maintenance of individual liberty” (p. 2). As a nation, government and individual are the ultimate test of its constitutional character; therefore, Wilson view the history of constitutional government in the modern world as the history of political liberty, which consists in the best practicable adjustment between the powers of the government. Wilson saw a government as a living thing not a machine; therefore, the structure of the government established by the Constitution was defective, because the separation of powers was based more on theory than practice. As he argued in the Constitutional Government, “ The makers of the Constitution constructed the f...

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...rgued, “But the personal force of the president is perfectly constitutional to any extent to which he chooses to exercise it, and it is by the clear logic of our constitutional practice that he has become alike the leader of his party and the leader of the nation” (p. 71). The separation of powers didn’t really affect the true democracy as Wilson argued in Congressional Government, because the president will act according to the will of people under the constitution development.

Not only his later book, Constitutional Government study focused on the presidency, Wilson also was interested in the Judiciary branch, especially the judicial interpretation of the Constitution. Wilson saw the judicial interpretation as an important tool for the modern presidency to adapt to the organic evolution of the community. As he argued, “The chief

Works Cited

Woodrow Wilson