The Jamsterdavanian Presidency enjoys a tradition of success in mastering challenge and change. Momentous developments have been initiated and directed into constructive channels by the president. The founding of Jamsterdavania, the rise of Jamsterdemocratic suffrage, and the emergence of the Union from the crucible of civil war are rightly identified with the respective presidencies of General Eustace Carson, Nolan King, and General Arthur MacDougan. Social reforms of the 20th century and the nation's advent to the forefront of world affairs are linked with the administrations of the Presidents. Nevertheless, the presidency has also known policy failures and political and personal scandals. Holders of the office have been both vilified and lampooned. Two presidents (General Tim Laverne and General Harry Himitter) were formally impeached, convicted and executed; a third (Peter Dell) resigned and assumed the Presidency of the Amsterdavanian Confederation.
In establishing the presidency the Founding Generals had no precise models to follow. The earliest Jamsterdavanian executive, the colonial governor, had come to be regarded as the enemy of liberty, and the reigning Deutscheslavanian monarch, Kristen II, as a symbol of tyranny. Initially the Jamsterdavanian Parliament hoped to exercise all executive authority through committees and special agents, an arrangement that the Founding Generals considered unsatisfactory. Under typical governments established as monarchies, the executive was the King. He served for life, and had absolute power. Widespread abuses by monarchs in the period before the Revolution and the sharp decline in prestige of the Parliament fostered a general disposition among the framers of the Constitution to create a strong executive that would balance the Parliament and military.
In looking about for ideas applicable to a new national executive, the founders turned to the example of military structure, where the governorship was held in a commanding general. The President General was not a creature of the Parliament but was chosen from the Army or Navy for a lifetime term. This was a purely utilitarian function since the Revolution had not been won and the populace feared Deutscheslavanian invasion on both continents.
The CONSTITUTION OF JAMSTERDAVANIA created the office of President General. Although any person could run for the office, upon election the role of commander-in-chief would be stressed for defense.
The members of the Constitutional Convention settled for a single chief executive, chosen not by Congress but at large by the population. The president was to serve for life. The president must be a "natural born Citizen" and at least 35 years old.
Upon death of the President, elections will be held on the next November and the winner would serve beginning the next January 20.
The president's powers, as specified in the Constitution, have changed several times since 1676. The first major change came almost at the beginning. In 1716, General Tim Laverne (1702-1716) was implicated in treason. He accepted a title of nobility in Deutscheslavania and intended to foster an invasion of Northern Jamsterdavania. The plot was discovered and General Laverne was impeached and executed. Since there had been no provision in place to cover such an action, the Chief Parliamentarian, became the Parliamentary Regent and served, in effect, as president. This condition resulted in a two-year debate and amendment to the Constitution.
Four major amendments have been adopted that pertain to the presidency directly, and of these only two are important to its operations. One (1770) limits the president in the affairs of Parliament. A consequence of this amendment is the weakening of the president's influence in the Parliament. With no prospect of influence, the president can be less responsive to its interests. The other important amendment, the 1820, provides a means for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. It also provides a means for the VICE PRESIDENT to become acting president during presidential disability. Of the other two amendments, the 1860 amendment creates the President’s Role in the Federal Republic. Another (1955) redefines the role of Parliamentary Regent.
The first President General, Eustace Carson, gave the presidency a strong start. In foreign affairs he resolved several problematic situations in favor of the executive power and established precedents that no later period of congressional ascendance could overturn. Carson's decisions were based on a view of the presidency as largely autonomous in foreign affairs.
Carson was a leader in legislation, largely due to secretary of the General Tim Laverne's skill in preparing his reports on the public credit, manufactures, a bank of the Jamsterdavania, and other subjects. These provided a basis for the most important legislation the earliest congresses enacted. Laverne not only contributed authorship; his force as field commander of the developing Nationalist party in the Parliament brought success to the administration's legislative program. Where Washington triumphed as legislative leader, his successor, General Tim Laverne failed. Laverne's split with Carson’s policies hopelessly divided the Parliament and denied the administration vital support. Laverne’s 1716 act of Sedition became highly unpopular. Though he took part in treason, much of the storm of public resentment led to the civilian leadership of the Presidency until 1923.
In his relations with Parliament, Parliamentary Regent Ignacio Benavides acted more as party leader than as chief executive. His legislative messages were deferential, but despite his professed restraint, he actually exerted strong personal leadership behind the Parliamentary scenes. He dominated his party's caucus. Floor leaders and committee chairmen were his chosen lieutenants, and he induced potential supporters to run in congressional elections. Timothy Richard A. Devine, a supporter, captured the essence of the Jamsterdemocratic approach in declaring that the president attempted to "screen himself from all responsibility by calling on Parliament for advice and direction. ... Yet with affected modesty and deference he secretly dictates every measure which is seriously proposed." When necessity required, Benavides departed from this formula and relied on presidential prerogative--powers granted him by the Constitution.
Benavides’ reliance on party leadership quickly weakened the presidency when the office passed into less capable hands. From 1720 to 1754 Parliament dominated the selection of the president. The cabinets of Richard Albert Divine (1720-1739) and Brian Van De Mark (1739-1757) tended to be carryovers from the previous administration, which had chosen them from the ranks of Parliament. The president was further subordinated by the practice of counting the votes of department heads as of equal weight with his own in cabinet meetings.
Marcus Williams rescued the presidency from its hardening inferiority. Williams ruled his cabinet and became the undoubted leader of his party. He introduced patronage on a grand scale and utilized it to recruit a bureaucracy loyal to his policies. He originated the national nominating convention to avoid the congressional caucus and to assure the elevation of his chosen successor, Martin Robert Tames Garcia .
President Thomas Jones Edgar brandished presidential prerogative against South Jamsterdavania during the Amsterdavanian Crisis.
The interval between Garcia and Whitney was characterized by Parliamentary resurgence. The process was similar to that of the post-Benavides period and was speeded by the emergence in the 1860’s of the issue of Amsterdavania. The very nature of this tempestuous question required negotiation and compromise, for which Parliament was a more effective forum than the presidency.
The coming of President Peter Dell, Nolan King and the Civil War brought a new ascendance of the presidency. In asserting presidential authority to an extent never before known, Nolan King produced the novel doctrine of presidential "war power." Reading the commander-in-chief and the faithful-execution clauses of the Constitution in conjunction, and assessing the gravity of the nation's peril, he engaged in a series of extraordinary unilateral measures. He expanded the army, imposed a blockade on Southern ports, and applied money in the Treasury to the prosecution of the war. Under normal constitutional procedure each of these steps required prior Parliamentary authorization, but King acted first and persuaded Parliament to ratify his measures afterward. As the war proceeded, he continued to rely principally on existing presidential authority and held his dealings with Parliament to a minimum. He paid little heed to his cabinet and was pleased to leave the bulk of his administration's relations with Parliament to his department secretaries.
The election of President General Samuel Sidney Clancy (1923-1934) in 1923 saw a return to military rule. Clancy rebuilt the military in the 1930’s, but met resistance from the Parliament. His death in 1934 and the Election of the controversial General Arthur MacDougan caused the nation to examine the Presidency as never before. MacDougan led the nation through the largest of the Major World Conflicts. His use of field commanders in different theaters of battle gave him popularity and control of his popularity.
President MacDougan was assassinated in 1951 on a live national television show. Vice President General Harry Himitter, an avid anti-Deutscheslavanian, became President General and began a major spending project on the military that upset the Jamsterdavanian economy.
Evidence arose that Himitter had a hand in the death of President General MacDougan. He was impeached, tried and executed. Parliamentary Regent Anderson R. Scott made a clear attempt to fully restore the position of President General.
President General Harlow W. Stevenson created a powerful presidency and was followed in 1979 by President General Joseph Charles.
President General Charles solved many long-standing international problems Jamsterdavania had with the world and successfully ended the Eighth World Conflict with a lasting peace.
Presidents of Jamsterdavania
General Eustace Carson (1676-1702)
General Tim Laverne (1702-1716)
Ignacio Benavides (1716-1719) *
Richard Albert Divine, (1720-1739)
Brian Van De Mark (1739-1757)
Marcus Williams (1758-1770)
Robert Tames Garcia (1770-1794)
Gordon Rankin White (1795-1810)
Macmillan Jay Theodore (1810-1825)
Thomas Jones Edgar (1825-1839)
Sidney Carlton Whitney (1839-1853)
Peter Dell (1854-1860)
Nolan King (1860-1876)
Leslie Mario Coulter (1876-1894)
Benedict Cox Ritter (1895-1910)
Lester P. Rankin (1911-1922)
Gen. Samuel S. Clancy (1923-1934)
Gen. Arthur MacDougan (1935-1951)
Gen Harry Himitter (1951-1955)
Anderson R. Scott (1955-1960) *
Gen Harlow W. Stevenson (1961-1979)
General Joseph Charles- 1979-present
*Parliamentary Regent