Lesson 11
By now you should know a little bit about how the Federal Government works, how laws are passed, how decisions are made, and how those decisions are enforced. So our President is Commander in Chief. He is in charge of the Armed Forces and his branch (Executive) is in charge of enforcing laws.
What happens if the President dies? Who takes over?
If the President dies, the Vice President takes over as president. This has happened a couple of times when the President of the United States unexpectedly died....
What happens if the President dies? Who takes over?
If the President dies, the Vice President takes over as president. This has happened a couple of times when the President of the United States unexpectedly died....
William Henry Harrison took the office of President in March of 1841. He gave a really long inauguration speech out in the cold and caught pneumonia. He was sick for a month and then he died. Poor William only got to be the President for 30 days. William's VP John Tyler became president:
This has happened a few times.... 7 more actually. BUT What would happen if both the president and vice president died????
The Speaker of the House would become president. The Speaker of the House is the leader of the House of Representatives. Our current speaker of the house is: Paul Ryan
The Speaker of the House would become president. The Speaker of the House is the leader of the House of Representatives. Our current speaker of the house is: Paul Ryan
What would happen if the President, Vice President, AND Speaker of the House all died in a freak accident? The leader of the Senate would become president.
So how many people actually make up the Federal Government?
EXECUTIVE BRANCH: well there's the President, his Vice, and the 15 members of the cabinet: (Secretary of State, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Education... etc) so officially 17 people, even though the president has lots of advisers, and other employees who work in the different departments
JUDICIAL BRANCH: There are 9 Justices (that includes the Chief Justice) who serve on the United State's Supreme Court. BUT there are judges for the United States Court of Appeals (179), and there are federal judges for the District Courts (677), and there are judges that serve on a special 'Court of International Trade' (9)... so there are hundreds of judges who are a part of the Federal Judicial System 874 to be exact. See the list here
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: There are 435 members in the House of Representatives. If you remember from Lesson 2, the compromise of the Constitution was that there would be two parts to the Legislative Branch: one where every state would get 2 votes, and one where each state would get votes based on population. The House of Representatives is based on population. But in 1911 it was decided that no matter how big the population gets, they're going to set the number at 435 and no more representatives can be added. If you want to look at a list of the states and how many representatives each state has: go here.
The Senate has 100 members and you can see a list of them here. So there are 'officially' 535 members of the Legislative Branch.
So how many people actually make up the Federal Government?
EXECUTIVE BRANCH: well there's the President, his Vice, and the 15 members of the cabinet: (Secretary of State, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Education... etc) so officially 17 people, even though the president has lots of advisers, and other employees who work in the different departments
JUDICIAL BRANCH: There are 9 Justices (that includes the Chief Justice) who serve on the United State's Supreme Court. BUT there are judges for the United States Court of Appeals (179), and there are federal judges for the District Courts (677), and there are judges that serve on a special 'Court of International Trade' (9)... so there are hundreds of judges who are a part of the Federal Judicial System 874 to be exact. See the list here
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: There are 435 members in the House of Representatives. If you remember from Lesson 2, the compromise of the Constitution was that there would be two parts to the Legislative Branch: one where every state would get 2 votes, and one where each state would get votes based on population. The House of Representatives is based on population. But in 1911 it was decided that no matter how big the population gets, they're going to set the number at 435 and no more representatives can be added. If you want to look at a list of the states and how many representatives each state has: go here.
The Senate has 100 members and you can see a list of them here. So there are 'officially' 535 members of the Legislative Branch.
Have you ever had a desire to become president? Do you know what the qualifications are?
These requirements are outlined in the Constitution, so if the United States wanted to change the law and let anyone 30 or older be the President, they'd have to add an amendment to the Constitution. So first you have to meet the requirements to become President. Then you have to go through a process:
Assignment 11
1. How old do you have to be to become president?
2. Who becomes president if the President, Vice President unexpectedly die? (I'm looking for his name and rank)
3. How many people make up the Federal Legislative Branch? What do they all do?
4. What are the 4 steps to becoming President of the United States?
For the second part of this assignment you are going to take the U.S. Citizenship test! Well... it's actually a pre-test, but I want to see how well you do on the test. Your grade won't be based on how well you do, but if you do it. The first thing you need to do to take this test is go to this website: http://civicsquiz.com/50-question-u-s-civics-quiz/
This quiz has 50 questions, answer 5 on the first page and then hit 'NEXT'. Once you've answered all 50 questions hit 'submit'. You will be taken to a page that shows your results. Take a SCREEN SHOT of your results (Ctrl + Alt + PrtScn) and then paste
(Ctrl + V) them into a word processing document underneath the four questions you just answered
2. Who becomes president if the President, Vice President unexpectedly die? (I'm looking for his name and rank)
3. How many people make up the Federal Legislative Branch? What do they all do?
4. What are the 4 steps to becoming President of the United States?
For the second part of this assignment you are going to take the U.S. Citizenship test! Well... it's actually a pre-test, but I want to see how well you do on the test. Your grade won't be based on how well you do, but if you do it. The first thing you need to do to take this test is go to this website: http://civicsquiz.com/50-question-u-s-civics-quiz/
This quiz has 50 questions, answer 5 on the first page and then hit 'NEXT'. Once you've answered all 50 questions hit 'submit'. You will be taken to a page that shows your results. Take a SCREEN SHOT of your results (Ctrl + Alt + PrtScn) and then paste
(Ctrl + V) them into a word processing document underneath the four questions you just answered
If you get 100% on the test I'll give you 2 extra credit points
So your word processing document should have the 4 questions and your quiz results should have already been e-mailed to me
DON'T FORGET TO SUBMIT YOUR ASSIGNMENT WITH YOU SCREEN SHOT OF YOUR CITIZENSHIP TEST RESULTS!!!