A User's Guide to Democracy: The Executive Branch

What does the president do as a Chief Executive?

Ensure that federal laws are enforced and that the president is the head of the branch

The president has both the duty and the power to enforce federal laws — what does this mean?

• Duty: He is supposed to respect the laws that Congress passes and ensure they are followed

• Power: The president and his agencies are able to not enforce a law if they believe it’s unconstitutional

What does the president do as the Commander in Chief?

• Command troops in times of war

• Launch nuclear strikes

• Appoint/fire military officers

• Repel attacks against the US

• Implement changes in military policy

How can the president wage war without Congressional approval?

Through committing troops and ordering strikes; overall engaging in warlike behavior w/o calling it war

What is a pocket veto? How does Congress try to prevent it?

• The president has ten days (excluding Sundays) to sign or not sign a bill.

• If Congress ends its session during that time and the president doesn't do anything, the bill dies through a "pocket veto" (an indirect veto of a legislative bill by leaving the bill unsigned)

  • But nowadays, Congress tries to prevent this pocket veto by not officially adjourning

How does the president win America’s “top political gig”?

The president has to:

• Convince bodies of voters around the country that his ideas are amazing

• Make special interest groups believe that he will make their dreams a reality

• Endorses and campaigns for candidates, and even convinces people to run

What are some of the consequences for if a president’s approval ratings go down precipitously?

• Legislators would not want voters associating them with an unpopular party leader

  • So, this means that even though your party controls both the House and the Senate, you would have trouble getting your policies through Congress

What did the Treaty of Paris of 1783 do?

Ended the Revolutionary War

What did the Treaty of Greenville of 1795 do?

Made 12 Native American tribes give up their land

What did the Louisiana Purchase do?

Allow the US to acquire Louisiana territory, which was then owned by France

What did the Treaty of Ghent do?

Ended the War of 1812, against the UK which kept getting in the way of trade and territory expansion

What did the Treaty of Paris of 1898 do?

Ended the Spanish American War and resulted in Cuban independence, as well as the US acquiring Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines

What did the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 do?

Led to the founding of NATO

How do executive agreements happen?

When the president makes an international deal without asking the Senate what they think

What can the president do and not do as the guardian of the economy?

The president can:

• Appoint the chair of the Federal Reserve (which is supposed to ensure economic stability and long-term growth)

• Propose a budget to Congress (which has huge impacts on inflation, exchange rates, taxes)

• Deal with Congress regarding financial policy

What the president can’t do:

• Directly mess with the economy

What is the Vice President? What do they do?

• The president of the Senate without voting power

Vice Presidents:

• Sit and watch Senate proceedings

• Are not able to formally address the Senate w/o permission

• Does get to vote to break a tie in the Senate

• Advise the president

• Help conduct foreign diplomacy and craft policy

Name at least 7 of the 15 principal offices / department heads of the Cabinet, which serve to regulate us

• Department of State (run by the Secretary of State): agency in charge of foreign affairs, from how we conduct ourselves to how other nations conduct themselves

• Department of the Treasury (run by the Secretary of the Treasury): in charge of US financial security

• Department of Defense (run by the Secretary of Defense): the department tasked with deterring and winning wars, and providing security for the U.S. and our allies with our Army, Navy, Air Force, etc. Its headquarters are the Pentagon.

• Department of Justice (run by the Attorney General): the main law-enforcing arm of the US which has the power to handle all criminal prosecutions and civil suits

• Homeland Security (run by the Secretary of Homeland Security): aims to secure home base with the aid of ICE, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, etc.

• Department of the Interior (run by the Secretary of the Interior): our main conservation agency, dedicated to protecting and managing natural resources / cultural heritage

• Department of Agriculture (run by the Secretary of Agriculture): the people who figure out how to keep us fed

• Department of Labor (run by the Secretary of Labor): administer federal labor laws that protect rights to safe and healthy working conditions, research labor conditions in the US today, administer job training, etc.

• Etc.