USA Option: The Executive Branch

What USA Option: The Executive Branch covers

USA Option: The Executive Branch is examined in Unit A2 1 Option A, a comparative study of the United States and the United Kingdom — taken instead of the Republic of Ireland option. It covers the constitutional role of the President, the roles the President performs, the formal and informal powers of the executive, the Cabinet and the executive departments, the Executive Office of the President, executive orders, agreements and unilateral action, constraints on the exercise of executive power, how amendments and the courts have shaped the presidency, lobby groups and the executive branch, the executive and Congress and power, responsibility and accountability in the American executive.

The 11 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The constitutional role of the PresidentConstitutional qualifications for the presidency, five powers Article II grants the President and pardon power.Open →
• The roles the President performsPresident as crisis manager and bully pulpit.Open →
• The formal and informal powers of the executiveGoing public, presidential mandate and executive privilege.Open →
• The Cabinet and the executive departmentsWhat the American Cabinet is and where it comes from in the constitutional text, appointment and Senate confirmation, the bar on sitting in Congress, the absence of collective responsibility, departmentalism, and accountability to Congress.Open →
• The Executive Office of the PresidentExecutive Office of the President, white House Office and national Security Council.Open →
• Executive orders, agreements and unilateral actionExecutive order and executive agreement.Open →
• Constraints on the exercise of executive powerSix constraints on the President's exercise of power, single most effective congressional constraint on the executive and lame duck President.Open →
• How amendments and the courts have shaped the presidencyThe Twelfth, Twentieth, Twenty-Second and Twenty-Fifth Amendments; executive privilege before the courts; the legislative veto in 1983, Clinton v Jones, the line-item veto and the 2024 immunity ruling; and the long effect of Supreme Court appointments.Open →
• Lobby groups and the executive branchRegulatory capture, revolving door in the American executive branch and four sectors with particularly powerful lobbying operations in Washington.Open →
• The executive and CongressVeto bargaining and presidential coattails.Open →
• Power, responsibility and accountability in the American executiveImperial presidency, counter-thesis of the imperilled presidency and transparency, as it applies to the American executive.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take USA Option: The Executive Branch further

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Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Which article of the Constitution creates the presidency?

   Model answer

   Article II of the Constitution creates the presidency and sets out the President's powers and duties.

2. 2

   What does the vesting clause of Article II say?

   Model answer

   The vesting clause states that the executive power is vested in a President of the United States, and defenders of a strong presidency treat that single sentence as a grant of authority in its own right.

3. 3

   State the constitutional qualifications for the presidency.

   Model answer

   A President must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years old, and resident within the United States for at least fourteen years.

4. 4

   How long is a presidential term, and what limits the number of terms?

   Model answer

   A presidential term is four years, and the Twenty-Second Amendment of 1951 provides that no person may be elected to the office more than twice.

5. 5

   Why was a two-term limit added to the Constitution?

   Model answer

   A two-term limit was added after Franklin Roosevelt was elected four times, in order to write into law the convention of standing down after two terms that every earlier President had observed.

6. 6

   Name five powers Article II grants the President.

   Model answer

   The President is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, makes treaties with the consent of the Senate, nominates judges and senior officials, grants pardons and reprieves for federal offences, and may veto legislation.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

USA Option: The Executive Branch revision questions

What does USA Option: The Executive Branch cover in CCEA A-Level Government and Politics?

11 subtopics: the constitutional role of the president, the roles the president performs, the formal and informal powers of the executive, the cabinet and the executive departments, the executive office of the president, executive orders, agreements and unilateral action, constraints on the exercise of executive power, how amendments and the courts have shaped the presidency, lobby groups and the executive branch, the executive and congress and power, responsibility and accountability in the american executive. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is USA Option: The Executive Branch organised?

By the CCEA 4830 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.