One of the first challenges for the American colonies after gaining independence was to establish a government that would fit their ideas of protection of individual freedoms and power by the people. For this reason, no single person could rule, and heredity could not determine the leader; instead, he had to be chosen by merit. This is why the new country could not be a monarchy, even a constitutional one. The highest post would be President, popularly elected and limited in terms of time he could be in this position.
The next challenge was to establish exactly how much power the President would have and what controls would be set in place to ensure that he did not abuse this power. …
