AP GOV Unit III: The Executive Branch (Presidency)
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday Saturday Sunday
2UNIT II Exam/ Study Guide & Take Home Test DueWork on Unit III SG Q. 2 & 3 / 3
In-Class Debate, Current Event Day/Due Date
HW: Work on SG Q. 4 / 4
HW: Work on SG Q. 5 / 5
Long Term Memory Quiz #1
HW:Work on SG Q. 6 / 6
Long Term Memory Work Quiz / 7
Cumulative Study / 8
Cumulative Study
9
CH. 13 Quiz
Work on SG Q. 7
Work on current events- Q.8 / 10
Work on current events- Q.8 / 11
Work on current events- Q.8 / 12
Spillover Day
Work on Take Home FRQ / 13
Unit III M/C Exam in-class
Take Home Essay and SG #1-8 Due (includes current events folder) / 14
Cumulative Study / 15
Cumulative Study
Unit III Organizing Principle: Students should understand the function and power of the executive branch; its relationship to the other branches of government under the Constitution; and the change and evolution of the executive branch.
BIG PICTURE (The Policymakers)-Spotlight on the Presidency
Terms to Study: 10 minutes a day- divide into I know, I don’t know piles & study until all are in the “I Know” pile. Remember all exams contain a cumulative section so review old cards as well using this same system. A scientific method called the Leitner System.
22nd Amendment
Impeachment
Watergate
25th Amendment
cabinet
National Security Council (NSC)
Council of Economic Advisors (CEA)
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
veto
pocket veto
presidential coattails
War Powers Resolution
legislative veto
crisis
divided government (p. 431)
policy gridlock
electoral college (p.315)
presidential honeymoon (p. 414)
line item veto (p. 409)
treaties (p. 417)
executive agreements (p.417)
executive privilege (example on p. 400)
executive orders (p. 494-495)
lame duck
12th amendment
approval ratings (p. 423)
Freedom of Information Act (1969)
“the football” (p. 418)
Roles: Chief Executive, Chief Legislator, Chief Diplomat, Commander in Chief
Head of State (p.423)
Bully pulpit (p. 425)
Study Guide Questions (remember to answer the question with the thought in mind- will this be enough to remember the information months from now? Bulleting information or charts is encouraged.
Correct Example: 22nd –limited to two terms in office Incorrect Example: 22nd Amendment)
1. Take Home FRQ- due the day of the In-Class M/C Exam-refer to prompts at the end of the study guide.
2. Basic Questions:
A) What does the Constitution say about the qualifications and term for the office of President?
B) Explain how the president is indirectly elected through the electoral college system. Be sure you know the timeline for this process, and clearly can explain the electoral college system, including the distinctions between popular vote, electoral vote and the winner-take-all system- (you may need to look this up on page 315-316. Also helpful, the handouts on the path to the presidency.
C) Describe and memorize the 12th, 22nd and 25th amendments to the Constitution.
3. Impeachment: Read the yellow box on page 396Should the Senate have convicted President Clinton?- make a case arguing yes or no based on a line of reasoning and 2-3 supporting claims.
In class- we will walk through the impeachment process which you must know and be able to recall so study the handout for this process.
4. Remember the BIG PICTURE is to shine the spot light on the President and to ask how this office influences the policymaking process and how it interacts with all the other participants in the process. The President is one individual who holds many roles at once; Chief Legislator, Chief Diplomat, Commander-in-Chief, and Head of State.
In developing a relationship with the legislative branch explain the following actions of the President as Chief Legislator: Getting It Done:
a. Creating laws- our founders separated the ability to pass laws between the legislative and executive branch- why?. What is the president’s constitutional veto power (formal power), how is it overridden? What are Executive Orders (informal power) and how does it operate in American politics?
b. Party leadership: (divided government refers to a President from one party and a Congress
dominated by the opposite party, a unified government refers to the same party dominating both the White House and Congress- how is public policy affected by divided government? Why can we still have gridlock even with a united government?)-
c. Public support- A) How does public support-and the lack of it- impact the President’s ability to
leadCongress and influence public policymaking? Reference p. 412-414and p. 422-427.
B) Look up President Obama’s current approval rating, what is it? What factor’s influence a president’s approval rating? What does the term “wag the dog” and “rally around the pole” mean?
d. Legislative skills (Though prohibited by separation of powers from passing laws the president draws heavily upon his skills to influence/pressure Congress who does pass the laws. Explain how the President attempts to lead the nation and to lead Congress to get favorable policies passed: make sure you link bully pulpit, bargaining, honeymoon, legislative priorities to your answer).
5. As Chief Diplomat andCommander in Chief the President has a leading role in developing National Security Policy. In fact, the founders gave the Executive Branch a focus towards foreign policy. However, the founders knew power to wage war at the whims of one individual was dangerous so to thwart tyranny the power to wage war was separated between the Executive and Legislative Branch. Explain the following:
a. The difference between the treatyprocess (formal power) vs. Executive Agreements (informal power):
b. The President’s role as Commander in Chief- what he can and cannot do. What powers in waging war were given to Congress.
c. Explain the tension between the Legislative and Executive branch over war powers, and address what is the War Powers (Act) Resolution and how Congress, Presidents and the Courts have responded to the passage of this Act in your response
d. How does the Constitution divide the powers of supply and command- why? (p. 421)
6. Explain the relationship between the President and the Press- in what ways does the media influence public perception and the policymaking process?
7. Explain the concerns and natural suspicion people have held about the power of the Presidency? (p. 397, 430) What factors explain the growth in power of the office of President? (p. 398, 431)
8. Create a current events connections folder:
Complete A or B, everyone completes C
A) For this unit find ONE newspaper or online articles related to vocab. in this unit. The best way to do this is to type “Obama” and a vocab. word like “Executive Order” in parenthesis and “conservative” or “liberal news” in an internet search engine like Google. Then attach the article to a sheet of paper and do the following: Part A) summarizes the article Part B) Write the following statement: this connects to the chapter on the Executive Branch because…..(finish the connection). Label the assignment Unit III Article.
B) You are to watch TWO ½ hour political news programs (not the daily local new station) and record the list of topics discussed during the program. Example: Caroline Kennedy drops out of the Senate race in NY, Obama issues Executive Order closing Guantanamo Bay in one year…etc. You may choose to watch the same program each time but on different days or watch a conservative program and on the same day watch a liberal program to see the difference in how the programs cover and treat the topics of the day. (Suggested political news channels: Fox, CNN, MSNBC) Label the assignment Unit III News Programs and place assignment in your Current Events folder. Record a ½ page reflection providing your opinion on what was shared in the news.
C) Go to StudentNewsDaily.com (a Christian News site) and print the Wednesday’s Biased news article and the Friday cartoon. Respond tothe questions included with each article and place in your Current Events folder labeled Unit III Bias Articles.
UNIT III Free Response Test Essays: I agree to abide by the honor code and did not consult any person or the internet when composing my answer. I know I have the ability to use my textbook and class notes. ______(Signed)
1. Presidents are generally thought to have advantages over Congress in conducting foreign policy because of formal and informal powers of the presidency.
(a) Identify two formal constitutional powers of the President in making foreign policy.
(b) identify two formal constitutional powers of Congress in making foreign policy
(c) Identify two informal powers of the President that contribute to the President’s advantages over Congress in conducting foreign policy.
(d) Explain how each of the informal powers identified in (c) contributes to the President’s advantage over Congress in conducting foreign policy.
2. Presidential approval ratings fluctuate over the course of each presidential administration.
(A) Identify two factors that decrease presidential approval ratings and explain why each factor has that effect
(B) Identify two factors that increase presidential approval ratings, and explain why each has that effect.
The cartoon refers to President Obama's announcement last weekthat he is implementing a new military strategy, which includes $487 billion in cuts to the military over the next decade. The plan would cut defense spending by 10% over the next decade, reducing the number of troops and funding for some equipment.
This cartoon refers to news reports on the apparent wealth of some of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, including those who own pricey Apple products, as well as an article:"Many Occupy Wall Street Protesters Live in Luxury." The article revealed that, of the 984 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested in New York City between September 18 and October 15, at least 95 of the protesters’ residences are worth approximately
$500,000 or more. The median monthly rent for those living in apartments whose information was readily available is $1,850. (see article at yahoo.com)
The cartoonist asserts that the way to solve the debt crisis is simple: cut government spending.
ELECTING A PRESIDENT
What qualities define a statesman? He (or she) doesn't seek public office for personal gain or because it's the only job he knows how to do. In fact, like ancient Rome's Cincinnatus or America's own George Washington, the statesman takes time out from a life of accomplishment to serve the general welfare. He stands for a principled vision, not for what he thinks citizens will fall for. He is well informed about the vicissitudes of human nature, the lessons of history, the role of ideas, and the economics of the marketplace. He is a truth-seeker, which means he is more likely to do what's right than what may be politically popular at the moment. You know where he stands because he says what he means and means what he says. He elevates public discussion because he knows what he's talking about. He does not engage in class warfare or in other divisive or partisan tactics that pull people apart. He does not cynically buy votes with the money his taxes take from others. He may even judge his success in office as much by how many laws he repealed as by how many he passed
Author: Lawrence W. Reed
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Presidency: Why Are Great Men Not Chosen President?
By Lord Bryce
James Bryce was a nineteenth-century English writer who loved America and wrote passionately about politics. The following excerpt, from his book The American Commonwealth, is still widely cited by American journalists.
Europeans often ask, and Americans do not always explain how it happens that this great office, the greatest in the world, unless we except the Papacy, to which any one can rise by his own merits, is not more frequently filled by great and striking men. In America, which is beyond all other countries the country of a "career open to talents," a country, moreover, in which political life is unusually keen and political ambition widely diffused, it might be expected that the highest place would always be won by a man of brilliant gifts. But from the time when the heroes of the Revolution died out with Jefferson and Adams and Madison, no person except General Grant, had, down to the end of last century, reached the chair whose name would have been remembered had he not been president, and no president except Abraham Lincoln had displayed striking qualities in the chair. Who knows or cares to know anything about the personality of James K. Polk or Franklin Pierce? The only thing remarkable about them is that being so commonplace they should have climbed so high.
Several reasons may be suggested for the fact, which Americans are themselves the first to admit.
One is that the proportion of first-rate ability drawn into politics is smaller in America than in most European countries....
Another is that the methods and habits of Congress, and indeed of political life generally, give fewer opportunities for personal distinction, fewer modes in which a man may commend himself to his countrymen by eminent capacity in thought, in speech, or in administration, than is the case in the free countries of Europe.
SAFE MEN ARE PREFERRED
A third reason is that eminent men make more enemies, and give those enemies more assailable points, than obscure men do. They are therefore in so far less desirable candidates. It is true that the eminent man has also made more friends, that his name is more widely known, and may be greeted with louder cheers. Other things being equal, the famous man is preferable. But other things never are equal. The famous man has probably attacked some leaders in his own party, has supplanted others, has expressed his dislike to the crotchet of some active section, has perhaps committed errors which are capable of being magnified into offences. No man stands long before the public and bears a part in great affairs without giving openings to censorious criticism. Fiercer far than the light which beats upon a throne is the light which beats upon a presidential candidate, searching out all the recesses of his past life. Hence, when the choice lies between a brilliant man and a safe man, the safe man is preferred. Party feeling, strong enough to carry in on its back a man without conspicuous positive merits, is not always strong enough to procure forgiveness for a man with positive faults.
A European finds that this phenomenon needs in its turn to be explained, for in the free countries of Europe brilliancy, be it eloquence in speech, or some striking achievement in war or administration, or the power through whatever means of somehow impressing the popular imagination, is what makes a leader triumphant. Why should it be otherwise in America? Because in America party loyalty and party organization have been hitherto so perfect that any one put forward by the party will get the full party vote if his character is good and his "record," as they call it, unstained. The safest candidate may not draw in quite so many votes from the moderate men of the other side as the brilliant one would, but he will not lose nearly so many from his own ranks. Even those who admit his mediocrity will vote straight when the moment for voting comes.
Besides, the ordinary American voter does not object to mediocrity. He has a lower conception of the qualities requisite to make a statesman than those who direct public opinion in Europe have. He likes his candidate to be sensible, vigorous, and, above all, what he calls "magnetic," and does not value, because he sees no need for, originality or profundity, a fine culture or a wide knowledge. Candidates are selected to be run for nomination by knots of persons who, however expert as party tacticians, are usually commonplace men; and the choice between those selected for nomination is made by a very large body, an assembly of nearly a thousand delegates from the local party organizations over the country, who are certainly no better than ordinary citizens.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
It must also be remembered that the merits of a president are one thing and those of a candidate another thing. An eminent American is reported to have said to friends who wished to put him forward, "Gentlemen, let there be no mistake. I should make a good president, but a very bad candidate." Now to a party it is more important that its nominee should be a good candidate than that he should turn out a good president. A nearer danger is a greater danger. As Saladin says in The Talisman, "A wild cat in a chamber is more dangerous than a lion in a distant desert." It will be a misfortune to the party, as well as to the country, if the candidate elected should prove a bad president. But it is a greater misfortune to the party that it should be beaten in the impending election, for the evil of losing national patronage will have come four years sooner. "B" (so reason the leaders) "who is one of our possible candidates, may be an abler man than A, who is the other. But we have a better chance of winning with A than with B, while X, the candidate of our opponents, in anyhow no better than A. We must therefore run A." This reasoning is all the more forcible because the previous career of the possible candidates has generally made it easier to say who will succeed as a candidate than who will succeed as a president; and because the wire-pullers with whom the choice rests are better judges of the former question than of the latter.
After all, too, a president need not be a man of brilliant intellectual gifts. His main duties are to be prompt and firm in securing the due execution of the laws and maintaining the public peace, careful and upright in the choice of the executive officials of the country. Eloquence, whose value is apt to be overrated in all free countries, imagination, profundity of thought or extent of knowledge, are all in so far a gain to him that they make him "a bigger man" and help him to gain over the nation an influence which, if he be a true patriot, he may use for its good. But they are not necessary for the due discharge in ordinary times of the duties of his post. Four-fifths of his work is the same in kind as that which devolves on the chairman of a commercial company or the manager of a railway, the work of choosing good subordinates, seeing that they attend to their business, and taking a sound practical view of such administrative questions as require his decision. Firmness, common sense, and most of all, honesty, an honesty above all suspicion of personal interest, are the qualities which the country chiefly needs in its first magistrate.