Describe four major duties and powers the Constitution conveys on the president. Then explain 3 ways, including the War Powers, the president’s power through these duties are limited.

Explanation:

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 gave surprisingly little attention to the executive branch of government.  In contrast to the protracted debates over the powers of Congress, the powers of the president were defined fairly quickly and without much discussion.  This might in part be due to the reluctance of delegates to offend George Washington, the presiding officer of the Convention, and the man all delegates assumed would be the nation's first president.  As a result, one can study Madison's Notes of Debates without ever reaching a clear understanding of the scope of the authority the framers intended to give the executive.  Justice Robert Jackson, commenting on the unclear Convention record, wrote that it was "almost as enigmatic as the dreams Joseph was called upon to interpret for the Pharaoh."

Despite the lack of attention given to the executive, historian Jack Rakove called the creation of the presidency the framers' "most creative act."  In Article II of the new Constitution, the framers offered the world something entirely new: a chief executive whose power came from the people rather than heredity or force.  The Constitution, however, provides little hint that the president would become as powerful as he has in modern times.  The framers obviously assumed that the legislative branch would be much more influential.  Madison wrote that it would "rarely if ever happen that the excecutive constituted as ours is proposed to be would have firmness enough to resist the legislature."  Among the delegates, only Alexander Hamilton strongly advocated an executive with the power to match the monarchs of Europe.

Over the nation's long history, with only short interruptions, power has flowed increasingly to the Executive Branch.  The reasons for this are numerous, but include the successful exercise of power by ambitious presidents from Lincoln to the two Roosevelts,  the growth of the administrative state in the 20th century, and the realization that Congress is ill-suited compared to the President to make timely responses to national security threats.

increase in population