Building a Cabinet

Having a Cabinet of presidential advisers seems as American as apple pie and impeachment. But in fact, the Cabinet is not required by the Constitution.

A strong executive was the last thing many of America's founders wanted in the 1770s. They worried that if any one man gathered too much power, the states would have another king. So the first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, did not allow for a chief executive.

It took only a decade for the founders to realize that a weak central government wasn't going to cut it. They rethought things at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and worked out a plan for a president and men to assist him.

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