The Executive Branch: Guided Notes

What does it take Journal Additional Notes:

to be a great What does it take to be a great president?
president?
Demographic Characteristics of US Presidents

What Male—
characteristics
have we seen in Protestant—
our presidents?
British ancestry—

What is the College education—

president’s salary
Politicians—
and benefits?
Lawyers—

Top 3% wealth and social class—at least

Elected from large states—

How Much Do You Know?

 Who was the youngest person ever to be President of the United

States?

 Who was the oldest person ever to be President of the United

States?

 Who held the presidency for the longest time?

 Who held the presidency for the shortest period of time?

 Can a person born abroad become President?

Journal:
What does it take Salary and Benefits
to be a great
president? $______________ salary (____________)

$___________/year expense account

What
characteristics $___________/year travel expenses
have we seen in
A nice house (White House)
our presidents?
____________________________
What is the (up to ___________ after leaving office)
president’s salary
Country home (_________________)
and benefits?
Personal airplane (_____________________)

Staff of 400-500 full-time employees

What does it take A. President Additional Notes:

to be a US
president? 1. Qualifications

a. Natural-born citizen
What are the
qualifications for b. Must have lived in the U.S. for ________
a president?
c. Must be at least ___ years old

2. Term
What are the a. Four year term; eligible for re-election
powers of the
President and b. President Washington set precedent for serving
executive only two terms; _________________ made it law
branch?
The Executive Branch

B. Presidential Powers

1. _________________ Powers

a. Serves as Commander-in-Chief of armed forces

1) Can authorize the use of ______ overseas without

declaring war

2) Needs approval of _________________ to declare war

 officially

b. Makes _______________with other nations

c. _________________ ambassadors

d. Receives ambassadors of other nations, and thus recognizes

those lands as official countries

The Executive Branch

B. Presidential Powers (continued)

2. Legislative Powers

a. Presents information on the state of the union to Congress

b. Recommends _________________ to Congress

c. Calls Congress to special sessions

d. Approves laws passed by Congress

a. Veto (_____________________)

3. _____________________ Powers

a. “Take care that the laws be faithfully executed” Article II, Section 3

b. Makes _____________________, with agreement of Senate

c. Approves _______ written by Congress

The Executive Branch

B. Presidential Powers (continued)

4. _________________ Powers

a. Grants _________________ _________________ for federal

crimes

b. _________________ Federal judges, with agreement of majority

of Senate

Journal/Response Questions:

How does the president “check” the Legislative Branch

How can the president “check” the Judicial Branch

“The Executive Power shall be vested in a President for the United States
of America”
What does it takes to be a great President?

What are the six areas looked at to be the greatest president of all time?

Which quality do you agree with or disagree with?

How can the president check the legislative branch?

How can the president check the judicial branch?

How can the president enforce the laws?

The Many Roles of the President

Using page 250…
What are the Presidential Roles Additional Notes:
roles of the • ___________________
President and o _____________________________________
the executive o Other countries have similar positions
branch? (Kings/Queens, Emperor)
• ___________________
o Head of the __________________________________
• President Truman issued executive order to abolish
segregation in military
• ______________________________________
o Works with Congress to write ___________________
• Set tax policy
• Works to control __________________ and keep
economy growing
 • ______________________________
o Main architect of American _____________________
o Chief _____________________ to the rest of the world

Journal
• What can you conclude about The Federal Bureaucracy after reading
this political cartoon??? (2-3 lines)

• _____________________
o In charge of the _____________________
o Controls military and has ultimate responsibility for military
decisions
o 2.7 million men and women in the armed forces and the
nation’s entire military arsenal are subject to the President’s
__________________________________________
• __________________________________________
o Main architect of domestic policy (public policy)
o Initiates, suggests, requests, insists and demands that Congress
enact legislation
o Sets over all shape of Congressional agenda
• Chief of Party
o Leader of the _____________________ that controls the
executive branch
• Works to make sure their party does good in
congressional elections….why?
•
• Chief Citizen
o “The _____________________ of all the people”

What happens Line of Succession Additional Notes:

if anything
happens to the The order successors to the presidency if the president is unable to serve as
president? specified in the _____________________

_____________________

_____________________

President pro tempore of the Senate

Secretary of __________

Line continues by each of the

__________________________________________, in the order in which their
offices were created by _____________________
What is the Federal Bureaucracy Additional Notes:
Federal
Bureaucracy Bureaucracy
and what Large, complex
purpose does it ____________________________________________________that handles the
serve? everyday business of the federal government

Federal government is the __________________________in the country

Consists of four main groups:

The White House staff

The Executive Office of the President

Executive departments

Independent agencies

Brief History

Government at all levels grew enormously during the 20th century

Society has become increasingly complex

Recent years = trying to cut down size

__________________________– big during Reagan, also possible cause of

current economic crisis

Obama – largest __________________________expansion of government in

history

Federal Bureaucracies

__________________________ “paper pushers”

Employees of government units

Most that work for the federal government are hired under the requirements of
the __________________________

Appointments to the federal bureaucracy filled on the basis of ________

Employees are not fired for political reasons (known as

“__________________________”)

CREATES A PROFESSIONAL __________________________WORKFORCE!

Federal Bureaucracy

 White House Staff

  Consists of about 400 people

 __________________________

 President’s __________________________

 “__________________________”—controls who talks

to president and who does not

 Provide ___________________and advice on issues

C. Executive Office of the President

1. Agencies and individuals who directly help the president;

__________________________

-perform ____________________tasks for President

- About 1800 members

1. Members

a. White House Office

b. Office of Management and Budget (_____)

c. National Security Council (_____)

d. National Economic Council (_____)

The Executive Departments

D. The Cabinet

1. Not mentioned in __________________, but maybe best known

organization in executive branch

2. Group of advisors to the President; appointed by President with

__________________________

3. __________________________– Heads of these departments

make up the Cabinet

-Departments:

-__________________________

-Defense

-__________________________

-State

Federal Bureaucracy
 Independent Agencies

Implement __________________________

Answer __________________________

Examples:

Conclusion

Write three roles the president is responsible for

1
2
3
List three departments in the President’s cabinet

1
2
3
Which cabinet do you feel is most important? Why (2-3 lines)

What is the Road to the Presidency Additional Notes:

electoral
college? Electoral College – the basics

Group of persons chosen in each State and Washington every four years who
How does it make a ________________________________________
work?
The candidate that receives the _________________of votes in a State,
receives all of the State’s Electoral College votes

What is its Electoral College – not a perfect system…

purpose?
Flaws of Electoral College

Possible for the winner of the ___________________not to win presidency

Nothing forces a State’s electors to vote for the candidate who wins the State’s
popular vote (___________________)

A strong ______________________________________could win enough votes

to prevent any candidate from winning

Electoral College
___________________
Who, What, When, Where and Why

Formula for Number of Electoral Votes

Number of Senators + Number of Representatives=

Number of Electors

In Pennsylvania

- 2 Senators + 19 Representatives= ____ Electors

- ______ electoral votes out of a total of 538 are needed to win

WHY Do We Have An Electoral College System? – What’s the point?

-Number of reasons…

- The framers of the ___________________created it as a

___________________after considering elections of the president by….

-Congress

-State legislatures

-Election by the people (popular vote).

- They feared a tyrant could manipulate ___________________and come

to power

- Lack of trust in the people?

WHO are the electors?

-The electors are often loyal party activists and may be state officials, party
leaders, or those connected in some way to the ___________________.

- People’s vote instructs the electors from your state to cast their votes for the
same candidate

-The electors gather in their state capitals on the Monday following the second
Wednesday in December.

- They can vote any way they wish, although they have rarely gone
against the state ___________________.

Why does this man hate the electoral college?