One of the duties of a fiction writer is to predict the future; and sometimes re imagine the past.

The issue of a president bloated with power and breaking the law is a problem that has bedeviled our country throughout its existence.

There are times when Presidents have pushed the limits of the law and even broken it. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. Sometimes for objectives that can be argued about, such as empire-building. After all, the Louisiana Purchase was completed by Jefferson by bending, if not breaking the law. Lincoln violated the law during the Civil War. The Mexican War, which U.S. Grant fought in and thought immoral, was almost solely for empire.

I pondered this question a few years ago and then wrote a book on the premise that men such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum but also being intelligent, would see the potential problem. And come up with a solution.

The solution was The Jefferson Allegiance.

When this book came out, it ended up being a #2 national bestseller on Barnes and Noble, just behind The Help.

To give you an idea of times when such a document might have reeled in a president from going too far, here is a slideshow: