PRESIDENT’S CABINET DEPARTMENTS
HOW DOES A PERSON GET TO BE A MEMBER OF
THE CABINET?
They are nominated by the President
 The Senate questions them
 The Senate will vote to approve or reject that
nomination.
 If they reject the President nominates another
person.
 If they approve the nominee becomes the
Cabinet Member and will be known as a
Secretary or the Attorney General.

WHAT DO THEY DO?

A Cabinet member has two jobs.
 1.
They advise the President: He needs people with
expertise in different subjects.
 2. They run their department. There are 15
departments and therefore 15 Cabinet members.
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WHY DO WE HAVE THEM?
George Washington first had them and set a
precedent
 Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 states that a
President may “require an opinion from a
principal officer in each executive Department.”
President Washington interpreted that to mean
he needed advisors so he created a cabinet.

HAVE WE ALWAYS HAD 15 CABINETS?
No, we started with four: Secretary of State,
Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, and
the Attorney General (Justice Department)
 The last, Homeland Security, was added after
9-11 to put the intelligence gathering agencies
together.
