Wielding the Executive Power, 1775-1789

The essay is a comprehensive examination of the employment of executive authority in the states, under the Continental Congress, and the Congress of the Article of Confederation from 1775 to the Constitutional Convention. It details the growing appreciation for a single, unitary executive both to give balance to frames of government based on the principle of separation of powers and the need for specific institutional capacities for the effective and responsible functioning of government. Special attention is paid to the lessons learned about executive power and the required institutional features in the states of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. In addition, the essay takes special note of the repeated examples of state executives being given extra-constitutional powers, as well as the extraordinary authority given territorial governors under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.