The Executive Branch

The U.S. Constitution says very little about the duties and powers of the head of the nation s executive branch. The Constitution s authors were much more certain about what they didn t want in a president than what they did want. When George Washington took the oath of office to become the first president of the United States, he governed the country with authority and a sense of what a president should be. Since then, U.S. presidents have used his example and Article II of the Constitution as a guide for running the country. Those who have challenged the Constitution, defied it, or ignored it have been defeated by it. The Constitution, with its system of checks and balances, remains the heart of the U.S. government.