US Government - GED Social Studies

The powers of the President are collectively outlined in Article II of the United States Constitution.

Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution states:

\[The President\] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President of the United States is vested with the considerable power to appoint thousands of different officials, ranging in power from low level regulators all the way to the Justices of the Supreme Court. This is an enormous task for one person to undertake, and the drafters of the Constitution provided for Senatorial advice and consent as a check on both abuse and poor performance in appointments by a President.

In the American Legislature there are two houses. The House of Representatives, where each state is apportioned a different number of representatives relative to the population of the state, and the Senate. In the Senate, every State has exactly two members, regardless of the population of the state.

The representatives each state gets varies by its population in the House of Representatives. So, California, which is currently the most populous state, gets a lot more representatives than Wyoming, which is currently the least populous state. In the Senate, every state gets two representatives, regardless of size. The system was set up this way because of a disagreement between state representatives at the Constitutional Convention. The larger states' representatives wanted to have their larger populations reflected by greater representation, whereas the smaller states' representatives feared they would have no power in the system and would be mere subjects of the larger states. A compromise was reached, which is called the Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise.

The Supreme Court case, Marbury v. Madison (1803) is the most important of the early Supreme Court cases. It established the power of Judicial Review, which states that the Supreme Court has the right to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional. It greatly expanded the power of the infant Judicial Branch and further entrenched the doctrine of checks and balances that is at the heart of the American political system.

Judicial Review is one of the more important powers of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Branch of the United States government. It was established in the Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison, in 1803. It allows the Supreme Court to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional, giving the Judicial Branch the ability to check the power of the Legislative Branch.

The term Judicial Activism, or Judicial Intervention, is used to describe the belief that the Supreme Court should take an active and promiment role in shaping American national policies. It is the antonym of judicial restraint, which suggests that the Supreme Court should limit its attempts to intervene in shaping national policies.

The correct answer is that the 17th Amendment provides for the direct election of Senators. Prior to the ratification of the 17th Amendment, Senators were elected indirectly. In other words, you (and your co-citizens) did not elect Senators. In fact, Senators were elected by state legislatures (which, of course, were elected by the voting public in each respective state). The 17th Amendment was, in large part, a response to the Progressive movement, which accused the indirect election system of being plagued by graft (political corruption, essentially).

This cartoon reflects that view (note the large gentlemen looming over the senators in the back). The large folks in the back are the purported "bosses" of individual states (e.g. Boss Tweed) who supposedly could thus buy state legislatures (or at least heavily influence them) and promote the election of the senator they wanted.

The correct answer is “prohibition . . . alcohol." Hopefully this question was relatively easy. The 18th Amendment, similar to the 17th, was adopted in large part in response to the Progressive movement (although, technically, it was the “Temperance” movement which gave birth to it). Women were a large driving force behind Prohibition, and it is no coincidence that women gained the right to vote soon after.

The 19th Amendment is the correct answer. The "Declaration of Rights and Sentiments" was the women's rights analog to the Declaration of Independence. It was read at the Seneca Falls Convention, the first formal agitation of equal rights among the sexes, which eventually leads to the passage of the 19th Amendment.

Although some—many, actually—states granted women the right to vote prior to the 19th Amendment, it took an amendment to force the noncompliant states to allow women to vote. Do you know why that is?

Remember: controlling the franchise (that is, who gets to vote) belongs to the states alone! That’s why it took an amendment to change the laws in the states which did not allow women to vote.

The correct answer is “Some women could . . .” Interestingly, many states west of the Mississippi allowed women to vote, with the Wyoming Territory (later the state) leading the charge. Do you know why this is? The answer is somewhat nuanced (and there are several theories as to why), but one plausible reason is that women were critical in settling the West, so the men “rewarded” them by extending the franchise. In other words, and likely a little more accurately, western women, unlike their eastern counterparts, were not simply homemakers and child-raisers. They actively participated in almost every aspect of life.

The 22nd Amendment limited the number of terms to which a President could be elected to 2. That said, it’s still possible for a President to be President for slightly less than 10 years. We’ll use names to make it easier. Billary Clownton and McDonald Grump are elected President and Vice President respectively. Clownton suffers an embarrassing political debacle halfway through her term, and is impeached and removed from office. Grump becomes President, and serves the remainder of Clownton’s term (a little less than two years). Grump goes on to be elected for two terms (8 years). Grump has been in office for (almost) 10 years, but only elected to 8. Pretty cool stuff!

The English Bill of Rights was signed in 1689, shortly after King William ascended to the throne during the Glorious Revolution. It’s primary intention was to ensure that the King could no longer act without impunity and to ensure the continued liberty and supremacy of the English Parliament. Among its basic tenets were placing limits on the power of the English royalty, the right to petition the Monarch without fear of punishment, the promise of regular elections in parliament, and the guarantee of freedom of speech in parliament. The English Bill of Rights is considered to be the forebear of the later American Bill of Rights. One right that is not included in the English Bill of Rights, but is included in the American, is the protection from the forced quarter of soldiers in the homes of private citizens. This was included in the American Bill of Rights in response to the British colonial policy of quartering soldiers in American houses during and after the French-Indian Wars.

The right to remain silent effectively states that every accused individual has the right not to speak if they choose to do so. This is related to the Fifth Amendment which says that a defendant cannot be forced to be a witness against themselves.

The right to a "speedy and public trial" is guaranteed in the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. All American citizens have the right to a public trial in order to prevent any corruption or miscarriage of justice that might occur behind closed doors.

Jim Crow Laws were enforced in the South during the decades after the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves. Jim Crow Laws were designed to further segregation in the United States.

Margaret Sanger was an American activist in the early twentieth century. She believed passionately that giving women the ability to control when and if they got pregnant would do a great deal to advance the autonomy of women in society. Throughout her life, Sanger was an active supporter of allowing women to legally use birth-control.

Habeas Corpus is a British legal tradition that has passed into American law. It essentially states that the government cannot detain a citizen for a lengthy period of time without a trial. It ensures no illegal detention, and that every accused individual will be given the opportunity to go to court to be acquitted of any wrongdoing.

Appointing Judges to the Supreme Court is a power reserved for the President of the United States.

A Presidential election takes place every four years so if an election takes place in 1860 the next election will be in 1864. The most recent election was in 2012, so the next election will be in 2016.