Chapter 13: The PresidencyBy,

Bryce HethAlli Peters

Will GilmoreJaryd Hiser

7th hour3/28/06

The Presidents Roles

• The President is chief of state, chief executive, chief administrator, chief diplomat, commander in chief, chief legislator, party chief, and chief citizen.

• The President both reigns and rules at the same time.

• He has to play all of his roles simultaneously.

Formal Qualifications

• The first qualification for the presidency is that the candidate is “a natural born citizen.”

• The second qualification for the presidency is that the candidate is at least 35 years of age.

• The last qualification for the presidency is that the candidate has lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

Informal Qualifications

• The informal qualifications of the presidency are things such as race and gender. Obviously you have an advantage if you’re a white male.

• Other informal qualifications are wealth, religion, background, marital status, and military service.

The Presidents Term and Pay

• The president can be elected to a four year term. After that they can be re-elected to another four year term. The max length for a president to serve is ten years long.

• Up until 1951 president could serve as many terms as they wanted.

• The president makes roughly 400,000 dollars a year. They provide them with a 50,000 dollar expense allowance.

Presidential Succession

• 1. Vice President • 2. Speaker of the House • 3. President pro tempore of the Senate • 4. Secretary of State• 5. Secretary of Treasury • 6. Secretary of Defense • 7. Attorney General • 8. Secretary of the Interior• 9. Secretary of Agriculture • 10. Secretary of Commerce• 11. Secretary of Labor • 12. Secretary of Health and Human Services• 13. Secretary of Housing and Urban development • 14. Secretary of Transportation • 15. Secretary of Energy • 16. Secretary of Education • 17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs• 18. Secretary of Homeland Security

Presidential Succession

• The Presidential Succession act of 1947 made the previous list in affect.

• There has been no time in history where anyone other then the Vice President has succesed the President.

Presidential Disability

• Section 3 and 4 of the 25th amendment fill the gap by stating two ways the vice president can become the acting President. The two ways are 1. The President informs Congress in writing that he is incapable of his powers. 2. The Vice President and majority of the cabinet inform Congress in writing inform congress that the President is so incapacitated.

Importance of the Vice President

• It assigns the position two duties: (1) to preside over the Senate and (2) to help decide the question of presidential disability.

• People that served as Vice President feel that it is a “laid back job.”

• Presidents choose Vice President who would help them win by balancing the ticket.

Vice Presidential Vacancy

• The vice presidency has been vacant 18 times thus far: nine times by succession to the presidency twice by resignation, and seven times by death.

• The 25th Amendment dealt with this matter that went into affect in 1973.

The Rise of Parties

• Electoral college-a group of people chosen from each state to formally select the President and Vice President.

• Flaws arose when parties began to form and in 1800 when there was a tie for Presidency the 12th Amendment was produced which separates the election of the President and Vice President.

The Role of Conventions

• The Constitution says nothing about presidential nominations, the convention system has been built entirely by the two major parties.

• Once a place is chosen the committee issues its “call” and informs each State how many delegates it may send.

• The # of delegates is determined by the number of electoral votes that State receives.

Presidential Primaries

• A Presidential Primary is an election in which a party’s voters 1)choose some or all of a State party organization’s delegates to their party’s extent and/or 2)express a preference among various contenders for their party’s presidential nomination.

• First appeared in the early 1900’s.• These primaries vary greatly from state

to state.

Presidential Primaries (cont.)

• Some were winner-take-all: when the candidate who won the preference vote automatically wins the support of all delegates.

• The Democrats have a proportional representation rule which is any candidate that wins at least 15 percent of the votes get the corresponding share of the primary vote.

• Critics believe each major party should hold one primary instead of numerous smaller ones.

The National Convention

• Defined as the meetings at which the delegates vote to pick their presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

• Three major goals 1)naming the candidates 2)bring the various functions and leading personalities together 3)adopting the party’s platform (basic principles, stands on certain matters, and objectives for the campaign and beyond)

The Four Days

• The first day is spent organizing and speeches, including the keynote address

• The second day the presentation and adoption of committee reports are done

• The third day the nomination of the party’s candidate for presidency is chosen

• The final day the nomination of vice presidency is chosen

Who is Nominated

• People with substantial and well-known political experience

• Governors have the best chance• Protestant• Come from larger states• Pleasant and healthy appearance• good speaking abilities• male

The Electoral College

• Electors chosen are expected to automatically vote for their party’s candidate.

• Electors are chosen by popular vote in each State on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

• Maine and Nebraska are chosen on a winner-take-all basis.

• Majority is needed to win, 270 of 538.

Flaws in the Electoral College

• 1)The winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed presidency.

• 2)Electors are not required to vote in accord with the popular vote.

• 3)Any election might have to be decided in the House of Reps.

Proposed Reforms

• The district plan is an idea in which the electors would be chosen in each state the same way as members of Congress would be.

• The proportional plan is when each presidential candidate would receive the same share of a State’s electoral vote as he or she received in the State’s popular vote.

• Direct popular test would be ridding of the entire electoral college system, this is the most widespread idea.

The National Bonus Plan

• This plan at first seemed very complex and “off the wall”

• It would keep much of the electoral college system intact, but it would also weigh in the winner of the popular vote.

• 102 electoral votes would be given automatically to the winner of the popular vote.

Support of the Electoral College

• 1) it is a well known process and it is impossible to know if any of these other plans will have defects.

• 2) it usually identifies a winner quickly and certainly (for the exception of the 2000 election)

• 3) only 2 elections have ever had to go to the House of Reps.

BibliographyMagruder’s American Government

Prentice Hall – William A. McClenaghan