| This dissertation is a study of administration in the constitutional regime of America's Founding Fathers. The modern administrative state is a fact of contemporary American politics, but its constitutional pedigree has never been universally accepted. While many are unconcerned with this issue, an entire genre of scholarship has been devoted to affirming or denying the constitutional legitimacy of the modern administrative state. Neither side, however, has effectively determined the foundations, functions, and organization of administration in the constitutionalism of the Founders. This dissertation proposes to make that determination.; This study is organized thematically, rather than chronologically. The foundation for a constitutional administration must be the separation of powers, an essential instrument of the Founders' principles. The modern administrative state is a manifestation of the separation of politics and administration, which is based on the political principles of Progressivism. Separation of powers, and not the separation of politics and administration, must be the foundation for a constitutional administration. Administration is an executive function, and ought to be limited to the execution of the laws in discrete circumstances. Administration ought not exercise the legislative function: deliberating about the public good, weighing conflicting interests, making a substantive policy decision that is a real choice amongst conflicting alternatives, and expressing that decision in a law that provides concrete standards of behavior and rules of action. The institutional arrangements of executive administration are then described: the importance of an independent executive, unity and republican safety in the executive, and how the appointment and removal power ensures that administration will have an executive constitution under the separation of powers.; Administration in the Founders' constitutionalism ought to be based upon the separation of powers and the principles of the American Founding. Administration ought to perform the executive function and have an executive constitution. Restoring the proper institutional arrangements of the Founders' constitutionalism, however, requires a restoration of the Founders' principles to their rightful preeminence in the American public life, and suggests the paramount importance of the political formation of citizens, even for the integrity of political institutions. |
