. Page 30
n
"... he (the President) l1]ay require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments,
upon any subject relating ~othe duties of their respective offices ... " - the Constitution
The short quote above from Article 2, Section 2, is the
closest mention the Constitution makes concerning the
TheSecretary of Commerce. This department promotes
Cabinet. Those appointed by the president to these
all phases of com'merce, industry, and business.
"executive departments" became known as members
(1913)
of the President's Cabinet. This group of presidential
advisors now has 15 members, but President George
Washington's first Cabinet had only four departments
The Secretary of Defense. All provisions for the defense
- State, War, Treasury, and Attorney General. Through
ofthe United States are carried out in this department,
the actions of succeeding Presidents, Cabinet officials
including the operation of the armed forces. (1949,
were added to meet changing needs. Currently, cabinet
originated in 1789 as the War Department.)
members rec~ive a salary of $183,500.
Here is a brief description of each department's work,
the Cabinet member's title, and the year the department
was established.
The Secretarv of State. This department is charged
with foreign affairs, including participating in the United
Nations, issuing passports, and running our foreign
embassies. (1789)
The Secretary of the Treasurv. This department
manages our nation's finances, is responsible for
coining and printing of money and enforces monetary
laws. (1789)
The Secretary of the Interior. This department is charged
with all natural resources of the nation, scenic and
historical regions, the National Parks System, Indian
affairs, dams, and water power. (1849)
The Secretary of Agriculture. This department conducts
educational and research plans aimed at aiding
agriculture. It also promotes legislation to help farmers
and aids them with their problems. (1862)
The Attorney General. This department enforces laws
of the United States in f~deral courts, conducts suits in
which the U.S. is concerned, and is chief legal officer
of the federal government. This individual conducts
investigations and suits concerning monopolies, antitrust laws, and organized crime. (1870)
The Secretary of Labor. This department aids wage
earners, enforces labor standards and laws, runs
employment bureaus, mediates strikes, and suggests
new legislation promoting worker safety. (1913)
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
This department seeks solutions to the many problems
of urban life. Its addition is an acknowledgment of the
growing needs of urban living. (1965)
The Secretary of Transportation. Transportation has
become a vital problem for a complex society like ours.
All methods and use of transportation come under its
jurisdiction. (1966)
The Secretary of Energy. This agency is charged with
establishing an energy policy for the United States. It
encourages conservation of fuel and electricity and
researches new energy sources. (1977)
The Secretary of Education. This department manages
all the federal education programs in the nation and
oversees educational grants to the states. (1979)
The Secretary of Health and Human Services. This
department
oversees health matters and many
programs affecting the quality of American citizens'
lives. Agencies include Public Health Service, Social
Security, Food and Drug Administration, the Office of
Vocational Rehabilitation, and many other programs
affecting Americans of all ages. (1979)
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This Cabinet post
is responsible for a broad range of problems faced
by American veterans from the country's wars and
conflicts. Since more than $26 billion dollars are spent
continued
on veterans each year, it is a most important federal
department.(1989)
Nuclear power production
_
Secret Service
_
Labor standards
The Secretary of Homeland Security. This is the latest
cabinet position deemed necessary because of the
9/11 attacks and increased terrorism. The increasing'
threat of terrorist attacks made Americans realize that
such a department like this was necessary. This cabinet
position will oversee the activities of 170,000 workers
from 22 agencies including the Secret Service, border
patrol, coast guard, and customs services. (2002)
In general, the secretaries playa major role in advising
the president in each of their areas. The secretaries are
specialists in their field. The various Cabinet members
playa vital role in shaping national policy.
Presidents and E-mail
Ithough we are in the age of communicatin
rough e-mail, presidents generally do not rea
r respond to those messages. The White Hous
eceives more than 15,000 e-mails per day. If yo
end an e-mail to the President @whitehouse
ovit goes into a vast e-mail hopper and mos
ikely will not be seen by anyone. If you go t
ww.whitehouse.gov and complete a form, yo
ill get an automated response detailing th
esident's policy on the issue you are intereste
Participation in the United Nations
Oversees education programs
_
_
_
TRUE OR FALSE
__
1. There were only three cabinet members in
Washington's Cabinet.
__
2. Most of the people in the U.S. are rural
dwellers.
__
3. There are 10 cabinet positions today.
__
4. The newest cabinet position is the Treasury
Department.
__
5. Cabinet members receive a salary of $99,000.
__
6. After the President appoints a cabinet member
he or she must be approved by the Senate.
FILL IN THE BLANKS
1. Which cabinet position is headed by the Attorney
General?
_
2. The Executive Branch and the cabinet is discussed in
which article of the Constitution?
_
3. The president's chief officer in foreign affairs is: __
REPORT: Research one of the current cabinet members
and write a report for the class.
Cabinet Responsibilities: List which Cabinet officer would
be responsible for each of the following:
Social Security
--.:..
_
Carrying out a war
_
Coining money
_
Enforcing U.S. laws in federal courts
_
Coast Guard _'
_
Foreign Affairs _-'--
_
National Parks
_
Farm Program
_
Settling a strike
_
Commuter problems
_
Terrorism alerts
_
War memorials
_
Electric power
Food and Drug Administration
Commerce legislation
_
_
_
George Washington's
first cabinet. . It inclUded a
Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of
War, and an Attorney General.
Page 32
Before 1961 the voters in Washington D.C. didn't get to
vote for the president at all. This was not considered fair
in the very capital of our country.
Perhaps the longest~ debate' at the Constitutional
Convention concern~d the method of selecting the
president. An early suggestion was to give this power
to Congress. But that would have destroyed the idea
of the separation of powers. How could we have three
branches of government, each checking the other, if the
legislative branch (the Congress) picked the head of the
executive branch, (the president)?
The writers of the Constitution also thought that the
electoral college gave states with a small population
more of an equal weight in the presidential election.
The writers of the Constitution also weren't ready to
give the selection of the president to the people or the
"common man." So they wrote a compromise into Article
2 of the Con!?.\itution.A compromise that set up a system
of electors to select the president. These electors came to
be known as the "Electoral College," but the Constitution
itself does not mention the term "Electoral College."
One of the problems political scientists see in the electoral
college is that it allows a person to be selected president
who has not won the popular vote in the country. In our
growing beliefs in the power and rights of democracy in
our country, that could be a problem. Because all the
electoral votes of a state go to the candidate who wins
the vote in that state, whether the candidate wins by a
single vote or a million votes, it is possible to be elected
president without having the most votes.
Each state would get as many electors as there were
senators and representatives from that state. And, in
the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution in 1961, three
additional electoral votes were added for the voters of
Washington D.C. That now made a total of 538 electors,
and a vote of 270 or more would be necessary to select
the president.
That has not happened very often, but it did happen in the
2000 election when President Bush became president
even though AI Gore won a majority of the American
votes. And, because this has happened so recently,
many Americans debate what we should do about the
Electoral College. Since a change in the electoral vote
would require a Constitutional amendment, change will
not come easily.
continued
Electoral College Membership
North
Dakota
3
South
Dakota
3
Nebraska
5
Kansas
6
Missouri
11
Oklahoma
7
New Mexico
5
Texas
NotShown:
Alaska
3
District of Columbia
Hawaii
34
3
4
j
Since we currently
have a president
who was originally
selected by the electoral college and not the popular vote,
criticisms
of the electoral
college are more noticeable.
See page 32 for answers
TRUE OR FALSE?
__
__
__
__
1. The term electoral college comes from the
Constitution itself.
2. Although it was originally expected that a group
of electors would actually elect the president and
vice president, it actually became the practice for the
electors to vote for the candidate who had the most
popular votes.
3. Popular vote means the vote of the people.
4. There have been no elections in which the
candidate
with the most popular votes has not
become president.
5. The writers of the Constitution felt that the
voters should directly elect the president and vice
president.
FILL IN THE BLANKS
1. How many electoral votes are there?
_
2. How many electoral votes for your state?
_
3. What is the minimum
state?
number of electoral votes for a
_
4. Which state has the most electoral votes.
5. Who had the most popular
presidential election?
_
votes in the year 2000
6. How many electoral votes does Washington
D.C. have?
7. Name a president who was elected without winning the
popular vote.
_
,~j
;1
WHO CAN DECLARE WAR?
As you have seen on page 23, the Constitution gives
the power to declare war to the United States Congress.
(Article I, Sec. 8) Since it seems to be rather plainly stated
that "The Congress shall have the power to declare
war," you would think the power is very clear. Well, it
isn't. The President of the United States is Commanderin-chief of the armed forces. (Article II, Sec. 2) The
President has often used his military powers to run a
"war" that was never declared by Congress. (Korean
War, Vietnam War, War in Iraq 2003.) Congress may
have approved some of these "wars" but they were not
declared wars. So, it remains unclear exactly who can
declare a war and who can run a war, and you can
only be informed that this is not always clear. There
have also been wars where Congress cle.arly declares
war, and the President carries them out. (World War I,
World War II.) Sometimes the President carries out a
"war" that the Congress doesn't seem to really want.
(This became the case in the latter part of the Vietnam
"War.")
President
1. George Washington
2. John Adams
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. James Madison
5. James Monroe
6. John Quincy Adams
7. Andrew Jackson
8. Martin Van Buren
9. William H. Harrison
10. John Tyler
11. James K. Polk
12. Zachary Taylor
13. Millard Fillmore
14. Franklin Pierce
15. James Buchanan
16. Abraham Lincoln
17. Andrew Johnson
18. Ulysses S. Grant
19. Rutherford B. Hayes
20. James A. Garfield
21. Chester A. Arthur
22. Grover Cleveland
23. Benjamin Harrison
24. Grover Cleveland
25. William McKinley
26. Theodore Roosevelt
27. William H. Taft
28. Woodrow Wilson
29. Warren G. Harding
30. Calvin Coolidge
31. Herbert Hoover
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt
33. Harry S. Truman
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower
35. John F. Kennedy
36. Lyndon B. Johnson
37. Richard M. Nixon
38. Gerald R. Ford
39. Jimmy Carter
40. Ronald Reagan
41. George Bush
42. William Clinton
43. George W. Bush
Term
1789-1797
1797-1801
1801-1809
1809-1817
1817-1825
1825-1829
1829-1837
1837-1841
1841
1841-1845
1845-1849
1849-1850
1850-1853
1853-1857
1857-1861
1861-1865
1865-1869
1869-1877
1877-1881
1881
1881-1885
1885-1889
1889-1893
1893-1897
1897-1901
1901-1909
1909-1913
1913-1921
1921-1923
1923-1929
1929-1933
1933-1945
1945-1953
1953-1961
1961-1963
1963-1969
1969-1974
1974-1977
1977-1981
1981-1989
1989-1993
1993-2001
2001-2009
Party
None
Federalist
Dem.-Rep.
Dem.-Rep.
Dem.-Rep.
Dem.-Rep.
Democrat
Democrat
Whig
Whig
Democrat
Whig
Whig
Democrat
Democrat
Republican
Republican
Republican
Republican
Republican.
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Republi'can
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Republican
Republican
Democrat
Democrat
Republican
Democrat
Democrat
Republican
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Republican
Democrat
Republican
WANT TO DO WHAT FEW CAN?
Your author estimates that not more than one
person in 10,000 can recite the Presidents of the
United States. Do you want to be in the upper
1/10ath of 1% of American$? Then memorize
this list and hope you are on the quiz program
that asks:
"For a. million dollars, name the
Presidents of the -United States!"
. Page 34
_:o!Oi"~ ~
All of you students' have lived through the 2000
Presidential Election, but you probably don't remember
much of it. It was the 54th Presidential Election and one
that will never be forgotten.
In the election, Democrat AI Gore received 50,996,000
popular votes and Republican George W. Bush received
50,456,000 votes. (Gore's Vice Presidential candidate
was Joseph Lieberman, first Jewish candidate for
President or Vice President, and Bush's Vice Presidential
candidate was Dick Cheney.) However, because of the
arrangement of' the electoral college (see page 32),
Bush ended up with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266.
Mr. Bush had been Governor of Texas and he is son
of former President, George Bush. Mr. Gore had been
Vice President of fhe United States for the two terms of
former President, Bill Clinton.
Americans are used to having the candidate who receives
the most votes for president become the President of
the United States. Every president since 1888 has won
the popular vote. So many Americans felt that Mr. Gore
should have become president. Political scientists have
warned Americans about this type of election for many
years, and have suggested reforms that would make
the popular vote the method of electing the president.
Supporters of the electoral college, however, feel the
college protects the smaller states.
Republican President Bush faced Democrat John Kerry
in the 2004 Presidential Election. Mr. Kerry is a U.S.
Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. Bush was believed to be in trouble in this election.
First, the economic news was not good. Many Americans
were out of work (unemployment), the war in Iraq that
Bush had supported was not going well. However,
President Bush concentrated on other issues and was
able to win the election. The Republicans were able
to hold their majority in the Senate and the House of
Representatives as well.
!O""'"
In the November 7,2006 Election, all 435 members of
the House of Representatives and approximately 113 of
the senators faced election. Interestingly, in the House
and Senate election, only 25 of these 535 officials were
not seeking re-election. This was not a presidential
election.
The next presidential election will be in
November, 2008.
The results of the 2006 election were disatrous. for the
Republicans. The Democrats won control of the Senate,
the House, and six Republican governorships switched
to Democrats and now there are more Democratic
governors than Republican ones.
The loss of their majority in the House of Representatives
was particularly hard for the Republicans. Republican
speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis
Hastert (IL), was replaced as Speaker by Nancy Pelosi
(CA). This placed Mrs. Pelosi second in succession to
the Presidency, the closest any woman hasbeien' to the
U.S. Presidency.
President Bush has indicated that he was ready to
cooperate with the new Democratic majority in Congress
and it should be an interesting pOlitical situation.
One of the difficult topics for the president will be the
war in Iraq since there are significant differences on
what to do about the war, and the war has become a
very divisive issue in our country.
By the time you use this book the 2008 Presidential
Election may be at hand or may have already occurred.
If that is the case, your teacher may have materials that
will review the election for you, or you may check with
magazines and newspapers in the library.
FILL IN THE BLANKS
1. Who was the Democratic candidate for president in
2004?
~
__
This was a very bitter and divisive election and example
of "dirty politics" were found on both sides.
2. In what year is the next Presidential Election? __
Social Issues
Republicans also successfully used some social issues
such as gay marriages, family values (things that are
important to families), and religion to their advantage.
4. In what year did the 54th presidential election take
place?
_
Election Results
The election was rather close. In popular votes, Bush
had 59,500,000 votes to Kerry's 56,000,000, (51% to
48%) In Electoral votes Bush had 286 votes to Kerry's
252. 270 votes were needed to win.
3. How many electoral votes did Bush get in 2004? _
5. Who won the popular vote in the 2000 presidential
election?
_
6. Who is the Speaker of the House?
_
7. Who is second in succession to the presidency? _
j