Name ______Period ______

Chapter 6: The Executive Branch of Government

Directions: With the use of your text and internet complete the following activities.

Part 1: Roles of the President (Lesson 2 pgs. 194-198)

NAME OF ROLE / DEFINITION / EXAMPLE OF PRESIDENT PERFORMING THIS ROLE / VOCAB TERMS AND SPECIAL NOTES
Chief Executive / Carry out the laws passed by Congress / Granting a pardon, replacing a Supreme Court Justice / Executive Order – force of law
Pardon –individual
Reprieve - delay
Amnesty – group of people
·  Most important job
·  About 3 million workers help the POTUS
Economic Leader / Plan federal government budget
·  How much to spend
·  What to spend it on / Wars, space technology… OMB / Proposal….appeal to Congress and fellow Americans (State of the Union)
Head of State / Greets others – foreign leaders and acts on behalf of all Americans / Lighting the annual Christmas tree
Medals to countries hero’s / Living symbol of the country
Party Leader / Top person in a political party / ·  Raising money for self and others in the party
·  Give speeches to assist others win election
·  endorsements / Get as many members of his party elected to various positions throughout all THREE levels of government
NAME OF ROLE / DEFINITION / EXAMPLE OF PRESIDENT PERFORMING THIS ROLE / VOCAB TERMS AND SPECIAL NOTES
Legislative Leader / ·  meet with others
·  make speeches to build support for programs
·  meet with Congressional Leaders to build support for their ideas / ·  appoint staff members to work with Congress
·  appeal to people to support his thoughts (State of the Union) / President proposes more bills to law makers than any other individual or group
Chief Diplomat / President direct Foreign Policy and makes key decisions in regards to how we deal with other countries / ·  Iraq War – WMD’s
·  WWII – Allies with Britain and France
·  Vietnam
·  Russia today - Sanctions / Foreign policy
Sanctions
Embargo
Commander-in-Chief / Leads the nations armed forces / Order troops into battle
Army, Navy / subordinate
War powers act
Joint Chiefs of Staff

Part 2: Identify the various powers that the Constitution specifically gives to the President of the United States.

Part 3: Complete the chart below.

Part 4: After completing the activities dealing with the Roles of the President, answer each of the following questions.

  1. Which of these roles is not called for in the Constitution? Why is it not?

(The role of party leader is notmentioned in the Constitution, because political parties did not exist at the time of the Founders)

  1. What tool can presidents use to influence how a law is carried out?

(A president can issue an executive order to influence how a law is carried out.)

  1. How can executive orders have a big impact on society? Give one example.

(An executive order can change the way the government does business or treats its employees. President Truman’s order to racially integrate the armed forces directly affected millions of Americans and spurred the civil rights movement.)

  1. What are the differences between the roles of an American president and a British prime minister?

(While a president and prime minister are both heads of government and of their political party, the role of head of state in Britain is assumed by the queen or king.)

  1. As head of state, what does the president have in common with the king or queen of England?

(Both U.S. presidents and English royalty attend to ceremonial duties, such as greeting leaders of other countries and awarding medals to national heroes.)

Part 5: The President’s Cabinet Lesson 4

A.  What definition do we usually think of when we see the wordcabinet?

(Students may say that the usual definition ofcabinetis a cupboard or area with shelves for storage.)Point out thatcabinetalso has on older usage, meaning “a small private room where quiet meetings can be held.”

B.  Use the following web site to complete this chart: www.whitehouse.gov and pg. 207 from text.

Name of Cabinet / Year Created / Name of Leader / Primary Function, Job or role / Example of what they are currently working on or dealing with
Department of State / 1789 / Secretary of State
John Kerry / Plans and carries out the nations foreign policy
Department of the Treasury / 1789 / Secretary of the Treasury
Jack Lew / Collects, borrows, spends and prints money
Department of Defense (DoD) – renamed in 1949 / 1789 / Secretary of Defense
Chuck Hagel / Manages the armed forces
Name of Cabinet / Year Created / Name of Leader / Primary Function or Job / Example of what they are currently working on or dealing with
Department of Justice / 1870 / Attorney General
Eric Holder Jr / Responsible for all aspects of law enforcement
Department if the Interior / 1849 / Secretary of Interior
Sally Jewell / Manages and protects nation’s public lands and natural resources
Department of Agriculture / 1889 / Secretary of Agriculture
Thomas Vilsack / Assist farmers and consumers of farm products
Department of Commerce / 1903 / Secretary of Commerce
Penny Pritzker / Supervises trade, promotes US business, tourism
Department of Labor / 1913 / Secretary of Labor
Thomas Perez / Deals with working conditions, wages of US workers
Name of Cabinet / Year Created / Name of Leader / Primary Function or Job / Example of what they are currently working on or dealing with
Department of Health and Human Services / 1953 / Secretary of HHS
Kathleen Sebelius / Works for the well-being and health of all Americans
Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) / 1965 / Secretary of HUD
Shawn Donovan / Deals with the special needs and problems of cities
Department of Transportation / 1966 / Secretary of Transportation
Anthony Fox / Manages the nation’s highways, railroads, airlines and sea traffic
Department of Energy / 1977 / Secretary of Energy
Ernest Moniz / Directs overall energy plan for the nation
Department of Education / 1979 / Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan / Provides advice and funding for schools
Department of Veterans Affairs / 1989 / Secretary of Veteran Affairs
Eric Shinseki / Directs services for armed forces veterans
Department of Homeland Security / 2002 / Secretary of homeland Security
Jeh Johnson / Oversees America’s defenses against terrorist attacks

Part 6: Answer the following questions.

A.  How does George Washington’s cabinet compare with the cabinet of our current president?

(Students will readily see that there are many more cabinet departmentstoday and may infer that the federal administration is much larger and more complex than it was in our country’s earliestdays.)

B.  Did Washington’s cabinet have any departmentsthat no longer exist?

(Students may conclude that the Department of Defense was formerly known as the Department of War.)

Additional questions (All will have various responses)

Which cabinet member’s position do you find the most interesting and why?

Do you feel that all members are needed today? Explain your position. Which would you get rid of if you think we should?

Which member(S) do you thinkare most vital? Why?