Composition Book Your Composition Book is due next class B Day- Thursday A Day- Friday Please use this time to make sure your Composition Book is completely in order and ready to go. You can check with your neighbor if you’re missing an entry You should have a total of 11 entries When you are done please send pictures to Mrs. Nelson’s email for the Senior Slide Show

The executive branch An Overview

Recap: The Legislative Branch The Legislative Branch is also known as Congress which is made up of two houses House of Representatives- 435 members elected by population Senate- 100 members every state gets 2 The main job of the Legislative branch is to write and make the laws that our country will abide by

Executive Branch: Video Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWR2p9j9hWo

Executive Branch: Function The function of the Executive Branch is to enforce the laws that were made by the Legislative Branch Remember the paranoia of the Founding Fathers? They felt it important to separate the branch that makes the laws from the branch that enforces the laws in order to prevent abuse of power Checks & Balances

Continued The President signs a bill into law and carries each law through numerous cabinet departments and agencies. The way that the Branches are written out in the Constitution it was intended by our Founding Fathers for the Legislative Branch to be the most powerful branch. However, it is now the President

Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution Article II of the Constitution establishes the Executive branch of the Federal government It defines the office of President and Vice President The electoral college Requirements to be President Establishes powers There are 4 Sections to Article 2 The Executive Vesting Clause gives to the President the executive power. (It vests him with power) Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”

Requirements to be President Do you think there should be more requirements to be President (For example: amount of education, political experience, certain job experience)? Why or Why not? The President must be at least 35 years of age Do you notice this is older than the minimum age of Congress? Why do you think that is? Must be a natural-born U.S. citizen (must be born in the country) Must have been a resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years

In Short… As long as you meet those three requirements anyone can be the President no matter your ethnicity, religion, gender, social background, or education level. In fact, you do not even need to hold any political office to become President.

Role of the President The President must address Congress at the beginning of each session. State of the Union Important speech describing how the country is doing Ideas of what will be done next year Ensure the Government cooperates and everything runs smoothly Otherwise little will get done and this is called Gridlock President travels to other countries to meet with heads of foreign governments President works out treaties with nations Commander in Chief: can send out armed forces to protect our interests President signs and vetoes bills from Congress

Powers of the President There are 7 Presidential Roles Head of State- Chief Executive Commander in Chief Chief Diplomat Legislative Leader Economic Planner Party Leader Use your Textbook on page 264 and write down the description for each role Next pick what you think is the most important role of all 7 and explain to me why this is the most important

How does the Constitution Balance the Branches? Congress holds important powers that the President cannot do. Those include Coining Money Declaring War Signing Treaties Most of the actual Powers the President has he is unable to exercise without Congressional Consent Congressional Consent: Permission by Congress Why do you think the Framers wanted to limit the Power of the President?

Vice President The second most important office within the executive branch is the Vice President The VP is elected at the same time and for the same term as the President What happens if the President dies or leaves office? The Vice President will replace the President Election Process: Originally the VP would be the candidate who received the second most votes in the Electoral College Since the 12th Amendment it was changed VP runs as a running mate Powers of the VP: Serve as President of the Senate & casts tie-breaking vote Ever since the 1950s Vice Presidents have gained more executive responsibilities

The Cabinet The President is able to have a Cabinet A Cabinet is a group of people who advise the President They are to help the President and assist in decision making This was not originally a part of the Constitution Therefore advisors have no formal power The size of the Cabinet has changed George Washington’s first Cabinet had just four secretaries Foreign Affairs, Treasury, War, and Attorney General There are now fifteen heads of departments

The Cabinets The Secretary of State The Secretary of the Treasury The Secretary of Defense The Attorney General (Justice Department) The Secretary of the Interior The Secretary of Agriculture The Secretary of Commerce The Secretary of Labor The Secretary of Health and Human Services The Secretary of Homeland Security The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Transportation The Secretary of Education The Secretary of Energy The Secretary of Veterans' Affairs

How do we elect the President? The Constitutional Convention designed a method to select the President This is called the Electoral College This means that there is a college (group) of electors who are responsible for choosing the president Each state chooses its number of electors (number of Senators + number of Representatives in the House) Each citizen’s vote selects a slate of electors who promise to select the presidential candidate in line with the popular vote http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential- elections/videos/the-electoral-college

Need to Know Dates The Presidential Election takes place on the first Tuesday of the month of November When will the next Presidential Election take place? Once voted in the candidate becomes known as the “President Elect” The President will then take office on January 20th

Executive Orders: We all know that a President can sign Bills into Law that come from Congress But, Presidents can also issue executive orders. An executive order directs how existing laws are interpreted and enforced Manages operations of the federal government Have the “force of law “ Exec Orders are numbered and published in the Federal Register The Official record of actions of the United States government Almost every single president has used Executive Orders FDR holds the record of most orders: 3,721

Notable Executive Orders Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (1863) FDR’s New Deal (1933) Truman’s Desegregation of the Military (1948) Eisenhower’s sending of federal troops to integrate schools in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957) Bush’s Establishment of the Office of Homeland Security (2001)

How much do they make? Position Salary President 1789 $25,000  1789 $25,000  2001 $400,000 Vice President $230,700 Senator $174,000 Representative $174,000 Majority & Minority Leaders $193,400 Speaker of the House $223,500 Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court $255,500 Assoc. Justice, U.S. Supreme Court $244,400

Article 2 Foldable For each of the 4 sections Give it a title that is unique to each section Summarize it Draw a Picture representing it On the Back of the Foldable In 3 sentences explain the importance of this section? Why did the Framers of the Constitution think that adding this section is important for our Government? In 2 Sentences What would you add to this Section of the Constitution? What do you think is missing? In 1 Sentence name one interesting thing you learned from this Article