Henry Gersh American History Chapter 13 Section 1 Key Terms and Main Ideas 1. The president’s role as chief of state means that he is the ceremonial head of the government. 2. The president’s role as chief of party means that he is the leader of his political party. His role as chief citizen means that he represents all the people of our country. 3. The three formal qualifications of a president are that he is a “natural born citizen”, he is at least 35 years old and that he has been a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. 4.
The 22nd amendment limits a person to two terms as president in order to prevent “executive tyranny”. Critical Thinking 1. Admiral George Dewey once stated that “the office of President is not such a very difficult one to fill, his duties being mainly to execute the laws of Congress”. I believe that this statement is false. The president of the United States is indeed a very difficult position to posses. This one man must act as chief of sate, chief executive, chief administrator, chief diplomat, commander in chief, chief legislator, chief of party and chief citizen. 2.
Some informal qualifications I believe should be necessary for a president are, a college education, years of previous work in government, a high intelligence level, an inspirational speaker and a strong moral compass. 3. I believe that the president’s salary, at 400,000 a year, is fairly set. Although he makes more than the average American, the job as president of the United States is substantially more difficult than that of the average American. Due to the level of difficulty of the presidents work he deserves to earn even more. By taking such a fair salary the president is doing our country a great service.
Section 2 Key Terms and Main Ideas 1. The presidential succession act of 1947 outlines the order of successions following the vice president should the president become incapacitated. 2. The president is considered disabled if he informs the congress in writing or if the Vice President and a majority of the members of the cabinet do so. 3. Vice Presidential candidates are often chosen to balance the ticket because they do not have many expressed powers, their main duty is to take over in case the president becomes disabled, which rarely happens. 4.
The Vice presidents formal duties are to preside over the senate and to secede the president. In recent years vice president Cheney has begun to work with the president very closely, becoming the most influential vice president in history. Critical Thinking 1. If I were offered the vice presidential nomination there would be some important matter to consider before making a decision. I would want to make sure that I was on board with my running mates platform. I would also want to ensure that I would have an influential position, reaching farther than my expressed powers.
As long as I was happy with the potential presidents ideals, and my job description I would not hesitate to accept the position. 2. No matter what the circumstances the president may not fire the vice president. This is the case because if the president had this power, he would be able to choose a running mate who strengthened their ticket, and dismiss them once he became inaugurated. If this were not the case the vice president would be forced to blindly follow the president, and could be controlled under the threat of dismissal from office. Primary Source: Choosing the Vice President . According to Garraty most vice presidents are selected in hopes of “Preserving party unity and adding strength to the ticket”. 2. The growth of presidential primaries has made the selection of the vice president less democratic because during the era of conventions the potential presidents would have to base their choice of running mate on the opinions of the delegates. 3. Professor Garraty believes that the primary system is “undoubtedly a more effective way of discovering which candidates for president the voters prefer”. Section 3 Key Terms and Main Ideas . Most framers were opposed to choosing the president based on popular vote or by congress because the American people were not educated enough, and selection by congress would allow the congressmen too much power over the president. 2. The framers intended for each elector to cast two votes. The candidate who received the most votes would then become president and the candidate with the second most votes would become vice president. 3. The election of 1800 changed the system because each political party nominated candidates for president and vice president.
Critical Thinking 1. The framers intended the presidential electors to be “the most enlightened and respectable citizens”. The framers idea of a good citizen was a well-educated, wealthy white man. 2. The rise of political parties greatly altered the way that the electoral college functions. Instead of each member casting two votes, the candidate with the most votes becoming president and the one with the second most becoming vice president; the electorates now cast only one vote for a the president/vice president team of their choice. Section 4 Key Terms and Main Ideas . Delegates are selected to the national conventions through the caucus-convention process or presidential primaries. 2. In proportional representation candidates receive a number of delegates proportional to the percentage of primary votes they receive where as in winner take all the candidate with the majority wins all the states delegates. 3. Hard fought presidential primaries are fairly common in the party out of power because everybody wants a shot at the presidency where as the president in power or a member of his cabinet is most likely to run for reelection.
Critical Thinking 1. Those who oppose our current primary system favor a serior of regional primaries held at two or three week intervals. Some advantages of this system include more time for presidential candidates to campaign across the country. It would allow candidates the time to speak in all the major areas before the primaries without the stress of trying to be everywhere at once. 2. Presidential contender Adlai Stevenson once said “The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning”.
This statement expresses the difficulty of campaigning. There are many dishonest routs that a candidate could possibly take in order to win votes. This makes winning an election while staying above board extremely tough. Section 5 Key Terms and Main Ideas 1. The Electoral College today acts mainly as a rubber stamp for the peoples votes, with none of the free will that the framers intended them to have. 2.
The Electoral College’s major flaws include that the winner of the popular vote may not win the election, there is no requirement for the electors to vote with the popular vote and that in any presidential election it is possible for the house to take the power of decision. 3. Some plans for Electoral College reform include the district plan, the proportional plan, the direct popular election plan and the national bonus plan. The district plan allows for electors to be chosen in the same way congressmen are chosen.
The proportional plan each candidate would receive the same proportion of the states electoral votes as they did the popular vote. The direct popular election plan removes the Electoral College all together and the national bonus plan would require the electors to vote with the states popular vote. 4. Direct popular election would make our country a true democracy, but our current system works for us, and identifies the winner “quickly and certainly”. Critical Thinking 1. I believe that the Electoral College should be eliminated completely.
Our president should be elected solely through popular vote. In the past this was not possible to due the lack of technology, and large size of our country. Currently it would not be difficult to calculate the popular vote and elect the president chosen by our people. 2. In our current system it is possible for the winner of the popular vote to loose the presidential election. Depending on what states the candidates win, using our winner take all system a candidate may receive the majority of electoral votes, but not the majority of the popular vote.
