Research Paper on:
The Emergence Of The Modern Congress And Presidency

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the top officials must be approved by the Senate, and it gives the power to appropriate money to the Congress (Sundquist, 1981). These are the only two specific acts identified  in the Constitution (Sundquist, 1981). Given so little actually detailed in the Constitution, Congress was quick to ascribe a great deal of power to themselves and keeping a tight rein  on the president (Sundquist, 1981). The only concession made was to allow the president to remove cabinet members at his discretion (Sundquist, 1981). Congress even tightened their already tight control  over the presidents office in the 19th century (Sundquist, 1981). Further, the fact that the Senate had to approve appointments of the highest officials gave them leverage to force the  president to agree to other things (Sundquist, 1981). This is a power the Senate and, in fact, the Congress continues to wield today. Because the Congress can "authorize, finance, and  supervise the activities of the executive branch" (Sundquist, 1981, p. 38), it has been referred to a Board of Directors (Sundquist, 1981). Even so, the presidents role as general manager  of the government has been strengthened over time (Sundquist, 1981). A major bill, the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, requires the president to submit a "program for every department  and every bureau" (Sundquist, 1981, p. 38) every year. Prior to that Act, each department and bureau had to submit their own program requests directly to the Congress (Sundquist, 1981).  Sundquist (1981) comments that Budget and Accounting Act made "the president a leader, a policy and program initiator, and a manager, whether he wished that or not" (p. 39).  Sundquist (1981) also stated: "The modern presidency, judged in terms of institutional responsibilities" (Sundquist, 1981, p. 38) began the day President Harding signed that Act (Sundquist, 1981, p. 38). It