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October 22, 2020 History NotesAs we approach the Presidential Election on November 3, 2020, you were asked to read about the office of President. The following notes summarize information about the Presidency that all Americans need to know and are based on principles contained in our COUNSTITUTION. Some of this material was discussed in class on October 22, and some of this material will be discussed in our next class.Keep in mind that the PRECIOUS RIGHT of freely voting for the Presidential candidate of your choice was secured for us by Colonial Americans who insisted on and set Precedents for SELF-GOVERNMENT. What are the requirements set by the Constitution for being President? Candidates must be (1) at least 35 year old (2) a natural born citizen (3) have actually lived in the United States for at least 14 years What powers or duties have been delegated to the President by our Constitution? The President (1) IS HEAD OF STATE (2) is COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE MILITARY (3) APPOINTS FEDERAL JUDGES, AMBASSADORS, and HEADS OF AGENCIES* (4) is authorized to enter into TREATIES with FOREIGN COUNTRIES W/Senate approval (5) is authorized to enter into TRADE AGREEMENTS with foreign countries (6) is charged with the duty of ENFORCEMENT OF ALL FEDERAL LAWS (7) has the power to PARDON people who have been sentenced to prison There are other powers and responsibilities of the President but the 7 listed above are sufficient for our study. The President has a CABINET of 15 people who are the heads of government agencies. Cabinet members serve as the President’s advisors and are charged with enforcement of federal laws within their areas of responsibility.Examples of Cabinet level government agencies: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, LABOR DEPARTMENT, TREASURY, HOMELAND SECURITY, ETC. There are other agencies but whose heads are not part of the President’s Cabinet: Post Office, CIA, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are 3 examples.All of the heads of these agencies work under the President and make up what the Constitution calls the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of the Federal Government. The President is often referred to as the Chief Executive. (We will study the ‘BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT’ following our study of the Revolutionary War.) THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB OF THE PRESIDENT IS TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION, a promise all Presidents make when they take the oath of office. This simply means that the President at all times Page 2promises to do everything the Constitution instructs him to do, but NOT TO DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE THE LIMITS SET BY THE CONSTITUTION.As long as we live by the Constitution, the President can never become a king or dictator! Under the Constitution, the President CANNOT MAKE LAWS TAX CITIZENS TAKE AWAY A PERSONS RIGHTS GRANTED BY THE CONSTITUTIONThe President cannot serve for a lifetime. The Constitution restricts any President from serving more than 2 terms. Presidential terms are for 4 years.Presidential Elections are held on the first Tuesday in November every 4 years. All years that are divisible by 4 without a remainder are election years.This year is 2020. Four (4) will divide evenly into 2020 with no remainder. The next Presidential Election will be held in 2024, then 2028, 2032, etc.Presidents who commit TREASON and/or ‘HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS’ can be IMPEACHED.To be impeached means that charges have been brought against the President. Only the House of Representatives has the power to impeach a President. Once the House has impeached a President, the Senate determines innocence or guilt much like a jury would in a normal court case. Several Presidents have been impeached, but none have been ‘kicked out’ or expelled from office.And N0, a President cannot commit murder or other obvious crimes without facing legal consequences! Presidents are meant to live under the same laws and the rest of us.PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS The United States is NOT a democracy. We do, however, incorporate democratic principles into our government.The United States is a REPUBLIC. Remembering the pledge of allegiance to the American Flag…”and to the republic for which it stands…” will help you remember that we live in a REPUBLIC.In a republic, the citizens BY VOTING choose the people who run our government and make and enforce our laws. In a republic, citizens do NOT participate in the lawmaking process. We elect Congressmen, Senators, and other legislators to do that. That is why it is important to vote for candidate to all public offices who are honest and think and believe like you think and believe. So, in our republic, we elect a President every 4 years to serve as the head of our Federal Government. s.This year the two primary candidates are DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN and REPUBLICAN DONALD TRUMP. Page 3There are other parties that will run candidates such as the ‘Green Party’, the ‘Libertarian Party’, and the Communist Party. There smaller parties that get almost no attention and never really have a chance to win national elections are called THIRD PARTIES.Third Parties are exercising their rights as citizens to belong to the party of their choice and to run for office if their candidates meet the qualifications or requirements for running. We will discuss only the two main parties and their candidates: Democrat Biden and Republican Trump.But how did Trump and Biden become the 2 main candidates for President? Both had a desire to serve as President.Both men were well known to American voters. The both had NAME RECOGNITION!Both either had or were able to raise the money needed to run a campaign.But how did they get the nomination of their respective parties?PRIMARY ELECTIONSBoth parties conducted ‘primary elections’ in each state. These ‘primaries’ were held in late 2019 and early 2020. A PRIMARY Election is one in which members of the same party run against each other for a particular office. Primaries give citizens a voice in who their party’s candidate will be. Trump had no opposition from other Republicans because he is the current President, but there were more than 20 Democrats who ran against Biden in these primaries. Winners of primary elections then will become their party’s candidate to run against candidates of opposing parties in the GENERAL ELECTION.In the general election candidates from opposing parties run against each other. The winner of the general election, in this case either BIDEN or TRUMP, will be declared President. The new President will be sworn into office in late January, 2021.) Following the primary elections, both parties held CONVENTIONS to formally determine their candidates. Joe Biden ultimately won enough of the votes in Democratic Primaries that he was selected as the Democrat nominee to run against Trump. Because of Covid 19, the conventions were very small and did not create much excitement. If you are interested in politics, you will just have to wait until 2024 to see what a normal political convention is really like.Page 4CAMPAIGN TIMEOnce Biden and Trump were nominated, it was time for the major campaigning to begin. Campaigns are designed to persuade as many citizens as possible to vote for a particular candidate. President Trump has been holding rallies and attractivngvery large crowds wherever he goes around the country. Of course his goal is to win support from the people who live in the areas where he goes to campaign. Biden, on the other hand, has waged a low-key campaign. To this point he has had no large public rallies. Both candidates have purchased media time to run political ads designed to gain support. And of course there was the first debate a few weeks ago. A final debate is scheduled for tonight, October 22. Campaigning will continue until the last polls have closed on Election Day. Next week we will examine the process for determining the winner of a President Election. It is NOT as simple as just counting the votes. ................
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