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MODULE 1

Objectives:
Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

  1. Explain the Electoral College and the ways it can produce victory by national popular vote losers. 
  2. Explain key sources of presidential power, and the reasons those have expanded over time. 
  3. Identify key organizations that help the president
  4. Create strategies in the veto game.
  5. Identify and explain the War Powers Resolution
  6. Create strategies for unilateral presidential action using executive orders, executive agreements, war powers and other tools to bypass Congress.

RELEVANCE: 
The president is the most visible and powerful individual in the American political system. It is vital that any student of American Government understand the power and role of the president.  

SUMMARY: 
The Framers’ ambivalence toward executive power has created a “gray area” in which the strength of the presidency is primarily determined by the individual skills of presidents and the support of the public. By using the powers of their office to the max, presidents attempt to shape public policy. In foreign policy, in particular, Presidents have succeeded at obtaining near dominance. But in many areas Congress and the Courts continue to constrain the President, sometimes pushing back successfully against efforts by Presidents to change the policy status quo. Harry S. Truman (President from 1945 to 1953) reflected that “Being President is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed.” And Theodore Roosevelt once told his relative Franklin (fists clenched) “Sometimes I wish I could be President and Congress too.” With enormous powers come even more enormous expectations. Presidents often struggle to fulfil those expectations in the face of a separation of powers system that limits presidential options, and their popularity often suffers as a result.  

OVERVIEW: In this topic we will address a series of puzzles about the presidency. First, how can someone when the presidency while winning fewer votes than some other candidate? The answer here will lie in understanding the workings of the Electoral College. Second, how presidents can (and cannot) use the veto to influence policy outcomes. Third, how the veto combined with presidential unilateral actions provides the president with substantial scope for action without involving Congress. And finally, why and how did the power of presidents increase substantially in the 20th century only to encounter substantial and consequential push-back from Congress and the Courts?


THE FRAMERS & THE PRESIDENT

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
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Introduction: The Framers of the Constitution were ambivalent about executive power. The colonial experience with the King of England and royalty appointed governors warned Americans of the dangers of strong executives. However, the weak executive under the Articles of Confederation highlighted the problems of governing without a potent executive. The result was an office endowed with substantial potential power, yet with much left to later interpretation and assertion. website editor with a drag and drop interface.

Led by Alexander Hamilton, Federalists sought to provide for a presidency that was: 
1. energetic;
2. independent of Congress;
3. endowed with sufficient powers to lead



Hamilton argued that this meant there should be a single individual charged with holding the executive power so that this individual would have the very reverse of a collective action problem. 

"That unity is conducive  to energy will be disputed. Decision,activity, secrecy, and dispatch will generally characterize the proceedings of one man in a much more eminent degree than the proceedings of any greater number; and in proportion as the number is increased, these qualities will be diminished." - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #70

INTRODUCTION

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ASSIGNED READINGS: 
Kollman Chapter 1
Playing Politics: Preface and Game 1: State of Nature 
The Declaration of Independence (Kollman appendix)
Loeb Introduction (1-19)

NOTE: After completion of the assigned readings, proceed below to start on completing the assignments and quizzes by clicking the buttons below.

ASSIGNMENTS QUIZ GO TO TOPIC 2

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