government paper

Branches of Government Research Paper United States Constitution provides that the President shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. While Presidents Washington and Adams were largely passive in their usage of this power, Jefferson saw it as an important tool in leading the nation. Where the previous two presidents had shied away from proposing specific policies and legislation, Jefferson saw it as his duty to do so. As President, he believed he could see the nations problems from a wider view than could members of Congress preoccupied with thconcerns of their local constituencies. Jefferson's effective use of his annual messages to the Congress, the the State of the Union Address has not always been regarded an important presidential power. Indeed, following Andrew Jackson's unsuccessful efforts to reassert the President's role as an important participant in the legislative process, there ensued a seventy-year period during which annual presidential addresses to the Congress were and largely unimportant . Lincoln was the lone exception among presidents during this period who took a more aggressive approach to his dealings with the Congress. After Lincoln, it was not until Teddy Roosevelt occupied the Oval Office that presidential State of the Union Addresses once again became an important political event. Roosevelt, in fact, articulated and acted on a new vision of the role of the President in policy-making. As the single elected official called on to lead the entire nation, Roosevelt believed the Presidency ought to be used as a bully pulpit to convince and cajole the Congress and the rest of the nation to do the right thing The House of Representatives is meant to be the people’s house or the part of government most responsive to public opinion. Each state’s representation in the House is based on population, with