Goal 2 Part 3 Study Guide
Chapter 7.1 (The President and Vice-President)
- What are the three qualifications needed to run for president?
 
- How often is the president elected?
 
- How is the president elected?
 
- What is the Electoral College?
 
- How is the number of electors determined, and how many are there?
 
- What happens if the president wins the popular vote and loses the electoral vote?
 
- What happens if no candidate gets the majority of electoral votes (270 or more)?
 
- How long is a presidential term?
 
- How does the president travel?
 
- What are the two main duties of the vice-president?
 
- What did the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 do?
 
- Who are the first six people in line, according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947?
 
- What does the 25th Amendment say?
 
Chapter 7.2 (The President’s Job)
- What is the main job of the president?
 
Chief Executive
- What is an executive order?
 
- What positions of power can the President appoint, and whose permission does he need?
 
- What is a pardon?
 
- What is a reprieve?
 
- What is amnesty?
 
Chief Diplomat
- What is foreign policy?
 
- Describe our current foreign policy.
 
Commander-in-Chief
- What does it mean to say that the president is the commander-in-chief?
 
- What does being commander-in-chief have to do with foreign policy?
 
- What is the difference between Congress and the president regarding military action?
 
- What did the War Powers Resolution of 1973 say?
 
Legislative Leader
- Can the president introduce bills?
 
- How can the president get the bills he likes introduced?
 
- Why might the president and Congress have disagreements over legislation?
 
Head of State
- Who might the president meet with?
 
- What sort of ceremonial duties can the president perform?
 
Economic Leader
- What does the president plan each year?
 
- What economic issues might the president have to deal with?
 
Party Leader
- How does a political party help the president?
 
- How does the president help his political party?
 
List the seven roles of the president:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Chapter 7.3 (Foreign Policy)
- List the four goals of American Foreign Policy, and why each is important.
 
a.
b.
c.
d.
- What is the difference between a treaty and an executive agreement?
 
- Where does the United States send ambassadors?
 
- Where does the United States NOT send ambassadors?
 
- What kinds of foreign aid does the United States provide?
 
- What are the two types of trade measures the United States could put on a country?
 
- What is a trade sanction?
 
- What is an embargo?
 
- Name a country we have an embargo over, and explain why.
 
- What is the most recent major use of military force as a tool for foreign policy?
 
- Which foreign policy goals is the United States trying to accomplish by occupying Iraq?
 
7.4 (Presidential Advisers and Executive Agencies)
- What does the Office of Management and Budget do?
 
- What does the National Security Council do?
 
- What does the Council of Economic Advisers do?
 
- What is the Cabinet?
 
- What are the leaders of each executive department called?
 
- How many executive departments are there?
 
- What are the three oldest departments, and what are their heads?
 
a.
b.
c.
- What is the youngest department, and who is its head?
 
- How many people work in the executive department?
 
- What are the three basic jobs of executive departments/agencies?
 
- What are the three types of independent agencies?
 
- Give an example of an executive agency and explain its purpose.
 
- Give an example of a government corporation and explain its purpose.
 
- Give an example of a regulatory board/commission and explain its purpose.
 
- What is the difference between a political appointee and a civil service worker?
 
- What is the difference between a merit system and a spoils system?
 
- What kind of system is the civil service system?
 
Goal 2 Part 4 Study Guide
Chapter 8, Section 1 (The Federal Courts)
- What is the third branch of government, and what is its purpose?
 
- Where is the Judicial Branch found in the Constitution?
 
- Upon what idea is the court system established?
 
- What are the three levels of the federal court system?
 
- What is jurisdiction?
 
- List the types of cases that federal courts have jurisdiction over, and give an example for each.
 
e.
f.
g.
h.
- What is the different between exclusive jurisdiction and concurrent jurisdiction?
 
Chapter 8, Section 2 (How the Federal Courts are Organized)
- What is original jurisdiction and who has original jurisdiction in most federal cases?
 
- Which court has a jury and witnesses?
 
- What is the “middle” court called?
 
- What type of jurisdiction does the U.S. Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court usually have?
 
- What are two reasons that a case might be appealed?
 
- What are the three things an appeals court can do with a case?
 
- What is an opinion?
 
- What is a precedent?
 
- How are an opinion and a precedent related?
 
- Who appoints federal judges, and with whose approval?
 
- What is senatorial courtesy?
 
- How can a judge stop being a judge?
 
- Why do judges have such high job security?
 
- What does a magistrate do?
 
- What does a U.S. Attorney do?
 
- What does a U.S. Marshal do?
 
- What is a subpoena?
 
Chapter 8, Section 3 (The Supreme Court)
- What is the main job of the Supreme Court?
 
- In what two cases does the Supreme Court have original jurisdiction?
 
- Who makes up the Supreme Court?
 
- Who is the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
 
- How is a Supreme Court justice appointed?
 
- Who was the first black justice? Who was the first female justice?
 
- What important power did Marbury v. Madison establish?
 
- What are the three principles of judicial review?
 
- Why is judicial review important?
 
- How can the executive branch limit the Supreme Court?
 
- How can the legislative branch limit the Supreme Court?
 
Chapter 8, Section 4
- How many justices have to agree for a case to be heard?
 
- What is a docket?
 
- What is a caseload?
 
- What are the five steps of decision making in the Supreme Court?
 
- What is a brief?
 
- What happens during oral arguments?
 
- What happens during a conference?
 
- What are the four types of opinion that a Supreme Court can issue?
 
- What does “stare decisis” mean?
 
- Why do courts usually follow precedents?
 
- Do precedents ever get overturned? Name the court cases that back up your answer.
 
Supreme Court Cases
- Why was Marbury v. Madison important?
 
- Why was McCulloch v. Maryland important?
 
- Why was Plessy v. Ferguson important? What amendment was being discussed?
 
- Why was Brown v. Board of Education important, and what did it do to the precedent of “separate but equal”?
 
- What happened in Tinker v. Des Moines?
 
- How was Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier different from Tinker v. Des Moines?
 
- What happened in Gideon v. Wainwright, and what happened after Gideon’s original case was remanded?
 
- What do police do as a result of Miranda v. Arizona?
 
- What issue does Roe v. Wade address?
 
- What happened as a result of the decision in United States v. Nixon?
 
- How does Engel v. Vitale affect your school day?
 
