The Jeffersonian Model

The Jeffersonian model is a deviating philosophy of presidential conduct in which the President tries to expand the powers of his office beyond the denoted powers of the executive branch in the U.S. Constitution. First exhibited by Thomas Jefferson, the model is a philosophy of the use of the presidential powers.

There is an element of the heterodox implied within this view.

In the Jeffersonian model, the President often tries to expand his powers (extension of the will?) outside of those denoted in the United States Constitution. There are five presidents considered by many Political Scientists and Historians to be the primary contributors to the expansion of the powers of the Executive Branch in the United States. These include: Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and, Franklin D. Roosevelt. At some point, certainly as of this date, it can be argued that Bill Clinton could be added to this list.

Jeffersonian Presidents tend to test the limits of the denoted powers of the President as provided by the U.S. Constitution to more implied powers of the office. Each of the five major Jeffersonian Presidents expanded the office of the Executive Branch in different ways.

Historically, Jeffersonian Presidents tend to be the favored candidates in both Presidential Elections and Re-Elections. As can be noted from FDR’s four (4) terms in office, though their work is often controversial, Jeffersonian Presidents are among the most influential, and fondly remembered, of the Presidents of the United States.

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

brian patrick cork