Three Branches of the Government

The Executive Branch

  • Constitutional Requirements
  • Terms and Pay
  • Office of the Vice President
  • Presidential Succession
  • Roles of the President
  • Electoral College
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Constitutional Requirements

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To be the President you must:
  • Be 35 years old
  • Have been born in the U.S.
  • Have lived in the U.S. for 14 years




Not in the Constitution - The "Unwritten Rule":
    You must be:
  • White
  • Male
  • A graduate of an Ivy League school
  • Protestant
  • Wealthy

Terms and Pay

  • 1 term=4 years
  • Only 2 consecutive terms
  • The President makes $400,000 a year and gets a $50,000 expense allowance

Office of the Vice President

The Constitution says that the Vice President:
  • Presides over the Senate and
  • Replaces the President when needed
    •     Fun Fact: 8 vice presidents have become President due to the death of a President

Presidential Succession

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Order of Presidential Succession

  1. President
  2. Vice President
  3. President Pro Tempore
  4. Members of Cabinet in order of creation (first is Department of State)

Roles of the President

Chief of State

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  • The President is the ceremonial head of the United States
  • EX: First pitch of a baseball game or pardoning a Turkey on Thanksgiving

Chief Executive

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  • The President makes sure all laws and treaties are enforced
  • Appointment of Powers
                - EX: Appointing federal judges (Congress must approve of all appointments).

Commander in Chief

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  • Supreme commander of the U.S. military
  • Can NOT declare war
  • War Powers Resolution- the President can send troops to foreign countries but he must get approval from Congress within sixty days.
  • Does not need experience in the military

Chief Diplomat

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  • The President is the main representative of the U.S. to the rest of the world
  • He may also create Executive Agreements - an international agreement that does NOT need approval of the Senate. They are faster and more secretive than treaties.

Chief Legislator

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  • The President has influence making laws
  • The President's options:
  1. Sign a bill to make it a law
  2. Veto a bill - has happened 2,513 times - can be overridden by a 2/3 vote
  3. Pocket Veto - don't do anything with the bill until the end of a congressional session.  If Congress really wants that bill to be a law, they must reintroduce it in the next session.
  4. Do nothing with the bill for 10 work days. - This allows the bill to become a law without the President's signature.

Chief of Party

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  • The President is the head of his political party
  • In charge of fund-raising - Since he is the most visible member of his party, the President leads most of the fund-raising.
                - EX: Dinners, campaigning, speaking engagements
  • Patronage: rewarding party workers with government jobs and contacts (the more popular the President is, the more power he has within his own party.)

Chief Citizen

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The President should set a good example for all other U.S. citizens.

The Electoral College

  • On election day you vote for a democratic or republican elector, not a president
  • Each state has as many electors as they do members in Congress (EX: Wisconsin has 10 - 2 from the Senate and 8 from the House)
  • To win the presidency you need a majority (270/538 - The extra 3 members in Congress come from Washington D.C.)
  • It is possible to win the presidency with only 11 states in your favor
  • If no one receives a majority of the votes then the House decides who is President and the Senate decides the Vice President
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