g the laws; secondly, that of executing or
putting them in practice. The former corresponds to the intellectual
faculties of the human mind, which reasons and determines what shall be
done; the second, to the mechanical powers of the human body, that puts
that determination into practice.(1) If the former decides, and the
latter does not perform, it is a state of imbecility; and if the latter
acts without the predetermination of the former, it is a state
of lunacy. The executive department therefore is official, and is
subordinate to the legislative, as the body is to the mind, in a
state of health; for it is impossible to conceive the idea of two
sovereignties, a sovereignty to _will_, and a sovereignty to _act_.
The executive is not invested with the power of deliberating whether it
shall act or not; it has no discretionary authority in the case; for it
can _act no other thing_ than what the laws decree, and it is _obliged_
to act conformably thereto; and in this view of the case, the executive
is made up of all the official departments that execute the laws, of
which that which is called the judiciary is the chief.

1 Paine may have had in mind the five senses, with reference
to the proposed five members of the Directory.--_Editor._.

But mankind have conceived an idea that _some kind of authority_ is
necessary to _superintend_ the execution of the laws and to see
that they are faithfully performed; and it is by confounding this
superintending authority with the official execution that we get
embarrassed about the term _executive power_. All the parts in the
governments of the United States of America that are called THE
EXECUTIVE, are no other than authorities to superintend the execution of
the laws; and they are so far independent of the legislative, that they
know the legislative only thro' the laws, and cannot be controuled or
directed by it through any other medium.

In what manner this superintending authority shall be appointed, or
composed, is a matter that falls within the province of opinion. Some
may prefer one method and some another; and in all cases, where opinion
only and not principle is concerned, the majority of opinions forms the
rule for all. There are however some things deducible from reason, and
evidenced by experience, that serve to guide our decision upon the case.
The one is, never to invest any individual with extraordinary power; for
besides his being tempted to misuse it, it