A Survey of USA:
----- The Federal System and Presidency
Prof. Niangen Huang
The Federal System and Presidency
1. What is federalism?
2. What is the separation of powers?
3. What is the constitutional power of the
American president?
4. How do you understand that President
holds big influence in law-making?
5. How is the president's power limited?
The Federal System and Presidency
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The political system of the United States is
established on the basis of the three main
principles:
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federalism
the separation of powers
respect for the constitution and the rule of law.
According to the U.S. Constitution, neither
the central nor the state government receives
its powers from the other; both derive them
from a common source, a constitution.
The Federal System and Presidency
 The national government has only those powers, with the one
important exception of foreign affairs, delegated to it by the
Constitution. “The states have the powers not delegated to the
central government except those denied to them by the
Constitution and the constitutions of their states.”
 This division of powers by a constitution between the central
government and state governments is called federalism.
 It should be observed that federalism operates only on two
levels, the national and the state. Units of government within a
state enjoy no independent existence.
The Federal System and Presidency
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Separation of powers means constitutional division of
power among legislative, executive, and judicial
branches.
This principle means more than allocating legislative
power to the Congress, executive power to the
President, and judicial power to the Federal Courts.
It also means giving each branch constitutional and
political independence, and checks and balances that
allow the various branches to delay or block the
actions of the other branches.
This is the supreme creation of the framers in 1787
and it has become a lasting and central part of the
American political system.
The Federal System and Presidency
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"This Constitution, and the laws of the United States
which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all
treaties made, or which shall be made, under the
authority of the United States, shall, be the supreme
law of the land,…" (Constitution, Art. VI )
Every American citizen is required to respect the
Constitution and to obey the laws of the United
States.
The citizen who disapproves of a particular law can
legally and peacefully strive for its change through
participation in government, that is, through voting
or communicating with the representatives.
The Federal System and Presidency
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According to the Constitution, the executive power is allocated
to the President.
As Chief Executive, he is given the authority or duty
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to command the armed forces,
to grant pardons,
to make appointments to certain offices (with the approval of the
Senate),
to conclude treaties (with the concurrence of two-thirds of the
Senate),
to send and receive diplomatic and consular officials,
to inform Congress on the "state of the Union"
to recommend legislation, approve or veto bills passed by Congress,
and "take care that the laws be faithfully executed. "
The Federal System and Presidency
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The President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the
power to raise train, supervise, and deploy American
armed forces.
The President has no power to declare war. The
Constitution clearly confers upon Congress the power
to declare war.
In reality, many presidents have waged wars without
congressional approval, and some created situations
that left Congress little choice.
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For example, President Johnson and Nixon waged wars in
Vietnam and Cambodia without formal declarations by
Congress.
The Federal System and Presidency
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No chief executive could properly be held responsible for his
administration who lacks the authority to appoint his principal
subordinates.
The framers of the Constitution gave recognition to this fact in a
provision of Article II, which reads as follows, the president "
shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, judges of the Supreme Court and other officers of the
United States.”
Although the Senate has equal authority "to advise and
consent" in respect to any nomination the president may make,
the Senate usually gives the president a relatively free hand.
Even if the opposing party controls the Senate, the president's
nominations are usually accepted.
The Federal System and Presidency
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The president carries the major responsibility for foreign policy.
His constitutional authority is as follows:
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(1) He is the nation's sole official spokesman (hut usually through
diplomatic channels) with the foreign powers.
(2) He sends and receives ambassadors and ministers. It is
primarily through this authority that he recognizes new foreign
governments and states.
(3) He appoints, with the consent of the Senate, the Secretary of
State, all other officers of the State Department, and ambassadors,
ministers, and special agents.
(4)I with the consent of two-thirds of the Senate, he makes treaties
and often on his oven authority, he makes executive agreements
with the foreign powers. Furthermore, his authority as
Commander-in-Chief is by no means unrelated to his responsibility
to conduct foreign affairs.
The Federal System and Presidency
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The president holds big influence in law making.
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He may, on extraordinary occasions, call Congress into a special
session.
He may be practically forced to call a session in case of emergency
He may be impelled to call one when he sees an opportunity to win
support for a particular policy.
The president "shall from time to time give to the Congress
information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient.”
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In fact, much of the American legislation is made on the proposals
of the President. If Congress passes any bills which he does not
like, the President may veto them by refusing to sign them.
Unless two-thirds in each house vote to override the veto, the
vetoed bills can not become law.
The Federal System and Presidency
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The president can also influence the
decision of the federal courts.
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He has the power to nominate justices of
the Supreme Court and the other federal
courts.
He has the power to pardon anyone who
has broken the federal law, as President
Ford pardoned Nixon, but he cannot
pardon himself as in case of impeachment.
The Federal System and Presidency
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The president, like all top executives, is
assisted by a number of organizations
grouped under the general designation, the
Executive Office of the President.
It consists of the Office Management and
Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers,
and several other staff units.
The most prominent and controversial
presidential staff, of course, is the White
House Office.
The Federal System and Presidency
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The White House consists of the President's most
intimate friends and personal aids, generally called
brain-trusters. Members of the staff:
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handle the President's schedule of appointments;
arrange for his trips;
help him write his speeches and messages;
digest information and documents for him;
assist him in his press conferences and television
appearances;
serve as his liaison with the executive departments, other
administrative agencies, and Congress;
make studies and prepare reports at his request;
perform any other duties that he may assign to them.
The Federal System and Presidency
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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
continues to be the central presidential staff agency.
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Its director advises the president in detail about the
hundreds of government agencies---how much money they
should be allotted in the budget, and what kind of job they
are doing.
The OMB seeks to improve the planning, management, and
statistical work of the agencies. It makes a special effort to
see that each agency conforms to presidential policies in its
dealings with Congress; each agency has to clear its policy
recommendations to Congress through the OMB first.
The Federal System and Presidency
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It is hard to find a more unusual institution than the
cabinet. It is not specifically mentioned by name in
the Constitution. Yet since George Washington's
administration, every president has had cabinet.
Today the selection of cabinet members is just about
the first major job for the president-elect.
The cabinet consists of the president, the vicepresident, the officers who head the executive
departments, and a few others.
The cabinet’s functions are purely advisory and
consultative. The president may use it as much or as
little as he pleases.
The Federal System and Presidency
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In spite of his great power, the president is actually
moving within the limits already drawn for him.
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His major appointments would have to be approved by the
Senate;
Congress could override his veto with the advice and
consent of two-thirds of the Senators.
All appropriations would be legislated by Congress.
The Supreme Court has the power to declare his policy, even
if it has already been approved by congress, unconstitutional
and thus abolished it.
If he abuses his power or commits crimes, he might be
impeached by Congress.
The president has no power to dismiss Confess.
The Federal System and Presidency
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By law, any natural-born American citizen of and over
35 years of age and of being a resident within the
United States for 14 years can run for the president.
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But in fact only the Republican and the Democratic have the
chance to win a presidential election.
American president can only serve one of two
successive terms of four years each.
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Throughout American history Franklin D. Roosevelt was the
only president who served more than two successive terms.
After the end of the World War II, Congress adopted an
amendment to the Constitution limiting a president to two
successive terms only.
The Federal System and Presidency
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In accordance with the requirements of the Twentieth
Amendment of the Constitution, the duly elected and duly
qualified president-elect takes office on the twentieth of January
following his election.
Outside the Capitol, on a temporary platform erected for the
purpose (in the Senate chamber, if the weather is inclement), he
becomes President by taking the oath of office.
In the inaugural address, which immediately follows the oath,
the president often tries to reduce some of the ill feeling that
recent political controversy had engendered, to reassure the
country that the Union survives.
Invariably the inaugural contains something of the new
President's philosophy of government, his conception of his
office, and some indication of the policies he will pursue.
The Federal System and Presidency
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American vice-president is not an
important figure in the Executive
Office. In most administrations the
vice-president was at best a kind of
fifth wheel and at worst a political
rival who sometimes connived
against the President.
The Federal System and Presidency
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Ideally, a vice-president serves several roles in addition to the
largely ceremonial function of acting as president of the Senate.
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A vice-president gets to cast the tie-breaking vote if the Senate has
a tie vote, but this usually occurs less than once a year.
As successor to the president should the latter die, resign, or
become incapacitated, the vice-president works as an understudy
who assumes some of the president's party and ceremonial duties,
thereby eases some of the president's burden.
A vice-president can also perform specialized assignments, such as
chairing advisory councils, cabinet-level committees, or a White
House conference, of undertaking good-will missions abroad.
The vice-presidency will remain attractive to aspiring politicians if
only because it is one major path to the presidency.