This meant that President was not allowed to encroach upon the rights and powers of other branches. Hamilton further explains in the Federalist Paper # 75:
The essence of the legislative authority is to enact laws, or, in other words, to prescribe rules for the regulation of society; while the execution of the laws, and the employment of the common strength, either for this purpose or for the common defense, seem to comprise all the functions of the executive magistrate.
It was because the framers wanted to limit the powers of the President that his term was fixed at four-years. It was much later that the condition of twice consecutive terms was incorporated in the Constitution to further curtail the powers of the Executive branch. While the framers tried to control all braches of the government by means of limiting powers, they did intend to have a stronger executive branch as they felt that "energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government." By this, they were referring to the abilities of a President who they felt could work better if he was allowed...
The sweeping powers became even more pronounced when President Bush decided to launch military attack against Iraq on the false pretext of disarming President Saddam Hussein. The main reason, many now believe, was either oil or some other material gain. It has now a matter of common knowledge that there were indeed no weapons of mass destruction present in Iraq and hence there was actually no need for a war. But the President tried to convince the public and Congress that war was the only solution and in the process misled the people. Despite public opinion going against the war, the President moved ahead with his plan and endangered the lives of hundreds of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Thus while Executive branch is the most powerful department of our government, it is not certainly the most efficient.
Reference
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, accessed on 18th May 2005 at http://www.naawp.com/gov/fed/_nav/fed_nav.htm
