Lesson 2.4: Roles and Powers of the President
Enduring Understanding:
The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.Learning Objectives:
Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda.Essential Knowledge:
Presidents use powers and perform functions of the office to accomplish a policy agenda.Formal and informal powers of the president include:
- Vetoes and pocket vetoes – formal powers that enable the president to check Congress
- Foreign policy – both formal (Commander-in-Chief and treaties) and informal (executive agreements) powers that influence relations with foreign nations
- Bargaining and persuasion – informal power that enables the president to secure congressional action
- Executive orders – implied from the president’s vested executive power, or from power delegated by Congress, executive orders are used by the president to manage the federal government
- Signing statements – informal power that informs Congress and the public of the president’s interpretation of laws passed by Congress and signed by the president
Activity #1: Executive Branch Webquest
In your notebooks, answer the following questions 1-14 from the Executive Branch Webquest. Please make sure to answer the questions in complete thoughts! These will be used on your test which is open notes and will also be graded in your third notebook check. In order for these notes to be helpful, complete thoughts will be necessary.
