Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Institutional Ambition And The Decline Of Congress, Ryan A. Case

Honors Theses

According to James Madison's theory of separated powers, ambition among members of each branch of government should prevent one branch from usurping the powers of another. However, this is hard to reconcile with the modern trend of congressional decline and executive aggrandizement. This paper takes a historical and developmental approach to argue that the informal changes to the American Constitution that took place throughout the 20th century combined with the modern trends of polarization and weak citizenship have left Congress weak and Madison's theory ineffective.