Which of the following was not an accomplishment of john dickinson? a. he served as a representative to the stamp act congress. b. he signed the declaration of independence. c. he freed his slaves unconditionally in 1786. d. he wrote “letter from a pennsylvania farmer to the inhabitants of the british colonies.”

in the united states, the president is controlled by the

constitution, and in all respects subordinate to it. insofar

as it deals with presidential power, however, the american

constitution has proved to be a highly malleable document.

with very few exceptions,' the constitutional provisions relating to the president have not been changed at all since

they were ratified in 1787. but in the late twentieth century, those provisions do not mean what they meant in

1787. the constitution is a legal document, and it is enforced judicially; but its meaning was hardly fixed when it

was ratified. in particular, the contemporary president has

far broader powers than the original constitution contemplated. it is remarkable but true that large-scale changes in

the authority of the president have been brought about

without changes in the constitutional text, but nevertheless

without significant illegality.

this is a paradox. is it not clear that constitutional

changes, if not textual, are illegal? the paradox has considerable relevance to our current thinking about the presidency in particular and about constitutionalism in general.

perhaps the framers of the american constitution feared

legislative power most of all; 2 but from well-known events

in the twentieth century, it is possible to conclude that it is

presidential power that holds out the greatest risks to both

liberty and democracy. the president is by far the most visible leader in the nation; he is often the only person in government with a national constituency. moreover, he is

the first 10 amendments to the u.s. constitution are known as the bill of rights. those 10 amendments establish the most basic freedoms for americans including the rights to worship how they want, speak how they want, and assembly and peaceably protest their government how they want. the amendments have also been subject to much interpretation since their adoption, particularly the right to carry a gun under the second amendment.

"a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference," said thomas jefferson, the author of the declaration of independence and the third president of the united states.