Chapter 13 Review Sheet

Head of State: the president as the ceremonial head of the government of the U.S., the symbol of all
the people of the nation
Head of Government: the role as director, of the Federal Government, heading one of the largest
governmental machines the world has known  term for the President as head of administration of
the Federal Government (yeah I have no idea what this is…. but im gonna assume chief
administrator?)
Chief Executive: term for the president as vested with the executive power of the U.S>
Chief Diplomat: term for the president as the main architect of foreign policy and spokesperson to
other countries
Commander in Chief: term for the president as commander of the nation’s armed forces
Chief Legislator: term for the president as architect of public policy and the one who sets the agenda
for Congress
Chief of Party: term for the president as the leader of his or her political party
Chief Scapegoat: (I couldn’t find this one)
Watergate: scandal that turned out to be President Nixon’s downfall (the manner in which he filled
the roles of party leader and chief citizen destroyed his presidency so he had to leave in disgrace or
be impeached)  had people sneak into the Watergate Building and steal information about the
Democratic National(??) Convention
Citizen: a member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to it by birth or naturalization and is
entitled to full civil rights
Oath of Office: oath taken by the President on the day he takes office, pledging to “faithfully
execute” the office and “preserve, protect, and defend” the Constitution
Term of Office: the term that the President serves in office (4 years=1 term, can serve a max of 2
terms after the 22nd Amendment)
22nd Amendment: States that the president can only be elected to office twice, also if someone
served in place of the president for two years of more, they also can only be elected once more
(that’s what I read but then I read something else that contradicted it so you might want to double
check)
Air Force One: One of the benefits of the President, his own personal plane
Presidential Succession: scheme by which a presidential vacancy is filled
Balanced Ticket: when a presidential candidate chooses a running mate who can strengthen his
chance of being elected by virtue of certain ideological, geographic, racial, ethnic, gender, or other
characteristics
25th Amendment:
Section 1- VP will be become President if it becomes vacant
Section 2- If the office of VP becomes empty, the President will nominate a VP who will take the
office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress
Section 3: Procedure that takes place if the President is so incapacitated that he cannot perform the
powers and duties of his office
Section 4- how a President will be determined incapacitated
Bush v. Gore: 2000 case when the Supreme Court finds vote recount in Florida unconstitutional, and
so effectively decides the presidential election in Bush’s favor
Electoral Votes: votes cast by electors in the Electoral College
Electoral College: group of persons chosen in each State and the District of Columbia every four
years who make a formal selection of the President and Vice President
Presidential Primary: an election in which a party’s voters
(1) Choose State party organization’s delegates to their party’s national convention and/or
(2) Express a preference for their party’s presidential nomination
Presidential Caucus: In States with caucuses, voters in local meetings choose delegates to
conventions at the congressional delegates to conventions at the congressional district or State
levels- where national convention delegates are picked
Winner-takes-all: an almost obsolete system whereby a presidential aspirant who won the
preference vote in a primary automatically won all the delegates chosen in the primary
Proportional Representation: rule applied in Democratic primaries whereby any candidate who wins
at least 15 percent of the votes gets the number of State Democratic convention delegates based on
his or her share of that primary vote
National Convention: meeting at which a party’s delegates vote to pick their presidential and vice-
presidential candidates
Platform: a political party’s formal statement of basic principles stands on major issues, and
objectives
Delegate: (couldn’t really find a clear def for this one)
Keynote Address: speech given at a party convention to set the tone for the convention and the
campaign to come
Inauguration: candidate receiving majority of electoral votes is sworn in as President of the United
States

Questions:
1. The President is expected simultaneously be:
(a) Chief of state
(b) Chief executive
(c) Chief administrator
(d) Chief diplomat
(e) Commander in chief
(f) Chief legislator
(g) Party chief
(h) Chief citizen
2. Formal Qualification:
(a) A natural born citizen of the U.S>
(b) Be at least 35 yrs old
(c) Have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years
3. Framers debated between a 4-year term with reelection vs. a single 6/7 year term and agreed on
a four year term. Although there wasn’t a limit on the number of terms a President could serve
until 1951, after George Washington refused to seek two terms, that became the unwritten “no-
third-term tradition”. FDR broke that tradition by seeking and winning a 3 rd term in 1940 and a
fourth in 1944. To prevent this from happening again, the 22 nd amendment was adopted in 1951.
No president can serve for more than 10 years.
4. Originally, the Constitution did not provide for the succession of the VP but then the Presidential
Succession Act of 197 was implemented.
5. The Constitution only assigns it two formal duties:
(1) To preside over the Senate
(2) To help decide the question of presidential disability
(3) Also names VP as “President-in-waiting”
Throughout much of its history was treated as a joke; however, the position is important because
they are “only a heartbeat away from the presidency” They have a low status because of the two
major parties and the way they choose their candidates for the office. Traditionally, each national
convention names the hand-picked choice of its presidential candidate. However, the presidential
candidate picks the VP to “balance the ticket” that will increase his own chance of winning. However,
with VP Dick Cheney, the power of the VP seemed to increase but there still has now been a
President truly willing to make the VP an “Assistant President” b/c the VP is the only one (in
addition to the POTUS’ official family) who is not subject to the ultimate discipline of removal from
office by the President (can never be fired by the President)
6. In the election of 1800 it was Adams and Hamiliton (Federalists) vs. Jefferson and Burr
(Democratic-Republicans). Each party nominated presidential electors in the several States with
the clear understanding that they would vote for their party’s candidates. Each of the 73 Demo-
Rep voted for their party however they produced a tie for the presidency (each elector got 2
votes each cast for a diff person but each for someone as President) so the HOR had to take 36
separate ballots although the popular vote clearly chose Jefferson. This led to three changes:
(1) Party nominations for the presidency and vice presidency
(2) The nomination of candidates for presidential electors pledged to vote for their party’s
presidential ticket
(3) The automatic casting of the electoral votes in line those pledges
7. 1st method the parties developed to nominate presidential candidates= congressional caucus
(used in 1800-1824 elections), downfall closed, nonrepresentative character of the system in
mid-1820s election of 1832: national convention which consists of…
(a) Convention arrangements
(b) Apportionment of delegates
(c) Selection of delegates
(more details ch 13 section 4)
8. There are three major defects:
(1) Winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency
(2) Electors are not required to vote in accord with the popular vote
(3) Any election might have to be decided in the HOR (House of Representatives)
9. Proposed Reforms:
(a) The district plan: electors would be chosen in each State in the same way as member of
Congress
(b) Proportional plan: each presidential candidate would receive the same share of a State’s
electoral vote as s/he received in the State’s popular vote
(c) Direct Popular vote
(d) National bonus plan (recent): would keep a lot of the electoral college system intact but
would weigh the winner-take-all feature in favor of the winner of the popular vote a
national pool of 102 electoral votes would be given automatically to the winner of the
national popular vote.