Ambassadors

Concluding that the Framers gave the President multiple duties (rather than prerogatives) in Article II, Section 3 and that these duties, denoted by the word “shall,” include the duties to report on the state of the union, receive ambassadors, and take care that the law be faithfully executed.

Reviewing historical events and the documents surrounding the ratification of the Constitution to determine that the Receive Ambassadors Clause did not constitute a delegation of the recognition power to the president.

Chronicling how the Washington Administration grappled with the issue of whether it should formally “receive” the French ambassador during the French Revolution.

Noting that, although Article I, Section 10 does not forbid the states to receive ambassadors, the Framers believed that permitting states to exchange ambassadors with foreign states would undermine the foreign relations of the United States as a whole, leading the Framers to vest the foreign relations powers in the federal political branches.

Engaging in an extensive textual and historical analysis of the Receive Ambassadors Clause and concluding that the Framers likely regarded the President’s power to receive ambassadors as a simple ministerial function rather than an important executive power.

Suggesting that the Receive Ambassadors Clause indicates that the Framers’ desired to make the President the sole conduit to communicate with foreign nations and their representatives.

Chronicling how Alexander Hamilton dismissed the Article II power to receive foreign ambassadors and ministers as “more a matter of dignity than of authority.”

Documenting how, at the Founding, receiving ambassadors was a form of recognition that implied that the United States would respect the rights of the received state under the law of nations.

Arguing that the Framers did not intend to give the President the same authority over foreign affairs as were possessed by the English King, as evidenced by the fact that the Framers gave the President only the power to receive, but not appoint, ambassadors.

Suggesting that the Framers viewed the power to receive ambassadors as a routine, administrative function, devoid of discretionary authority.

Noting that the Framers chose to take many of the nation’s foreign policy powers–including the duty to receive ambassadors– away from the Continental Congress and vest them in the President.

Recounting the drafting history of the Receive Ambassadors Clause.

Noting how the framers rejected Blackstone’s allocation of all foreign affairs and war powers to the Executive and instead gave the powers either exclusively to Congress or jointly to the Senate and the President.

Contending that eighteenth-century political theory included foreign affairs powers as part of the executive power, as evidenced in part by the Receive Ambassadors Clause.

Documenting how Alexander Hamilton changed his view of the Receive Ambassadors Clause, shifting from calling it merely dignitary to a foreign affairs power.

Chronicling debates between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison over the Receive Ambassadors Clause.

Documenting how Alexander Hamilton and James Madison disagreed whether Article II’s grants of power to the President– including the power to receive ambassadors–were merely examples of presidential power or a list of all presidential powers.