Quote Originally Posted by Pannonian View Post
Was it Lincoln then, who first significantly accrued power in the executive?
His was the largest single change aside from FDR. However, ACIN is correct that a majority tried to enhance federal power and that Lincoln was certainly not the first.

Washington -- the least power acquisitive of them -- used a recess appointment to pick the CJ of the SCOTUS
Jefferson began a war with the Barbary pirates without Congressional approval, made the Louisiana purchase without prior approval, and allowed support for the slave rebellion in Haiti while minimizing support for the French there.
Monroe allowed General Jackson to conquer Florida as a "oopsie" while conducting a punitive campaign against the Seminole.

...and that is just the first 5. Lincoln's suspension of habeus corpus, emanicipation proclamation, and --arguably -- his refusal to see participation in the Union under the Constitution as voluntary, were merely the biggest growth in executive power during our Republic's first century. He was certainly not alone.