Article 2, Section 2, Clauses 2 and 3

Document 29

Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations

The President is the constitutional representative of the United States with regard to foreign nations. He manages our concerns with foreign nations and must necessarily be most competent to determine when, how, and upon what subjects negotiation may be urged with the greatest prospect of success. For his conduct he is responsible to the Constitution. The committee consider this responsibility the surest pledge for the faithful discharge of his duty. They think the interference of the Senate in the direction of foreign negotiations calculated to diminish that responsibility and thereby to impair the best security for the national safety. The nature of transactions with foreign nations, moreover, requires caution and unity of design, and their success frequently depends on secrecy and dispatch.

The Founders' Constitution
Volume 4, Article 2, Section 2, Clauses 2 and 3, Document 29
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a2_2_2-3s29.html
The University of Chicago Press

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