- •1. The geographical position of the usa, its climate, the major rivers, lakes, mountain rangers, some general information about the country.
- •2. Discovery of America. American Indians.
- •3. The European exploration of the North American continent (Spanish, Dutch, French, German territories)
- •4. The first English settlements in North America.
- •5. The war of independence: its reasons and results
- •6. Territorial Expansion of the usa.
- •7. The Civil War: reasons, economic and social results.
- •8. The War of Independence and the Civil War: differences and similarities.
- •9. The First Half of the 20th Century.
- •10. The Great Depression and the Presidency of Franklin d. Roosevelt.
- •11. The us home and foreign policy after wwii.
- •12. The usa in the modern world
- •13. The American Constitution, the Bill of Rights.
- •14. The structure of the Federal Government. The system of checks and balances.
- •15. The Congress of the us. Supreme legislative body.
- •16. President as the head of the Executive power, the us administration.
- •17. The Presidential Elections.
- •18. The North-East
- •19. The Midwest
- •20. The South
- •21. West
- •22. Education in the usa.
- •23.The usa as a multiethnic society.
- •24. Speak on one of the American Presidents.
- •25. American Culture.
16. President as the head of the Executive power, the us administration.
The Executive Department is headed by President. He is both the Head of the Government and the head of the state. The official residence – Washington DC. The P is elected for a 4 years term. Under 22 amendment he can’t be elected more than twice. He must be a natural born US citixen, at least 35 years old.
The Constitution gives the P wide executive powers:
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces
Has the power to make treaties with other countries
Appoints ambassadors, judges
Has the power to veto the legislation. Pocket veto – the president doubts or hesitates. In 10 days the Bill becomes law even without the president’s signature.
Has the authority to recommend measures to Congress, merely all imp legislation originates in the White House
He is the major legislator
Is required by the Constitution to inform the Congress on the state of the union. Each year in January he presents a Report to Congress in which he reviews the work of the government for the past year and outlines the proposals for the current year.
The Cabinet. The P’s control over the Federal Executive Administration is primarily exercised through the heads of 14 executive departments. Department heads/secretaries are responsible to the P who can ask for their resignation at any time. The members of the cabinet are never members of the Congress. Their appointment requires the Senate’s approval, but this is generally a formality. The Cabinet is usually composed of members of the P’s political party. (republicans – the ruling party). Much of the P’s power derives from the fact that he is the Head of the political party. Each incoming P awards thousands of government posts to leaders and members of his party.
Departments: of State, Treasury, Defence, Justice, Agriculture, Labour, Health, Education, Transportation etc. in addition to them there are numerous boards and offices as well as independent agencies. (FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation, NASA - National Aeronaughtics and Space Administration)
17. The Presidential Elections.
They are held in lip-year. They consist of 2 separate campaigns: one is for the nomination of candidates at national party conventions, the other is to win the actual elections. The whole campaign & the election lasts a year: 1) winter - declaration of candidates; 2) spring – primary elections; 3) summer – nominating conventions; 4) November – general elections; 5) December – electorial college; 6) 20 January – the day of inauguration.
1).evrb who wants declares himself when he’s going to run the race. 2) candidates and campaign managers develop a strategy to win delegates from numerous primary caucuses. Candidates win their party nomination through successful showings in presidential primaries and state caucuses. A presidential primary is a state-wide election where voters from each party select the candidate they like to represent their party in the gen.elect. These candidates are awarded the status “delegates”. They vote then for the candidate at the party notion convention. The cand.with most delegates wins the nomination and the right to run in the nation pres.elect. 3). The nominating race is the competition btw the members of the same party. Nomination conventions r held by each party to nominate the presidential and vice-presidential candidates and write a platform. 4). The run btw the candidates from dif.parties. Big campaigns (TVads, TVdebates – opportunity for the public to determine each candidate’s qualifications) 5). The Elect.College is a method of indirect popular election of the pres. The EC is a group of people called electors, sometimes delegates, and each represents an electorial vote. They r elected by their states to officially elect the Pres.& Vice-Pr.The number of electorial votes is equal to the number of representatives in both Houses of Congress (more population->more power at the elect). 538 people. The EC is based on a “winner-take-all” system. The winner of the majority of votes in each state gets all of that state’s electorial votes. The system wasdesigned to prevent a cand. who’s very popular in a particular region from winning the el.based on the success only there. The electors arrive at their state capital on the 1st Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December to cast their ballots. Then the ballots are sent to Congress, where they are counted in early January and the winner is declared. If nobody wins a majority the House chooses among the 3 top-candidates.