President of the United States
The President of the United States of America (sometimes abbreviated as POTUS) is the head of state and government of the United States of America. The president is at the head of the executive branch of the federal government, whose role is to enforce national law as given in the United States Constitution and written by Congress. Article Two of the Constitution establishes the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and enumerates powers specifically granted to the president, including the power to sign into law or veto bills passed by both houses of Congress, to create a Cabinet of advisors, to grant pardons or reprieves, and, with the "advice and consent" of the Senate, to make treaties, appoint federal officers, ambassadors, and federal judges, including Justices of the Supreme Court. As with officials in the other branches of the United States government, the Constitution restrains the president with a set of checks and balances designed to prevent any individual or group from taking absolute power.
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History
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The president is elected indirectly through the United States Electoral College to a four year term, with a limit of two terms imposed by the Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1951. Under this system, each state is allocated a number of electoral votes, equal to the size of the state's delegation in both houses of Congress combined. The District of Columbia (DC) is also granted electoral votes, per the Twenty-third Amendment to the Constitution. Voters in nearly all states choose a presidential candidate through the plurality voting system, whom then receives all of that state's electoral votes. A simple majority of electoral votes is needed to become president; if no candidate receives that many votes, the election is thrown to the House of Representatives, which votes by state delegation.
While in office, the White House in Washington, D.C. serves as the place of residence for the president; he is entitled to use its staff and facilities, including medical care, recreation, housekeeping, and security services. One of two Boeing VC-25 aircraft, which are extensively modified versions of Boeing 747-200B airliners, serve as long distance travel for the president, and are referred to as 'Air Force One' while the president is on board. A salary of $400,000, along with other benefits, is paid to the president annually.
Since the adoption of the Constitution, forty-two individuals have been elected or succeeded into the presidency, the first being George Washington, serving forty-three different presidencies altogether (since Grover Cleveland was the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president(s) of the U.S.A.).
From the middle of the twentieth century, the United States' status as a superpower has led the American president to become one of the world's most well-known and influential public figures. U.S. presidential elections are regarded by many as events of international as well as national significance and are closely followed in many places around the world.
Presidents also choose the United States Secretary of the Treasury.
Election Day
The election date is set by federal law and has not changed since 1845. In this year, Congress passed a federal law designating the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November as Election Day. Americans select a president and vice president every four years. This regular election schedule has persisted through periods of great uncertainty and upheaval, including the Great Depression, and two World Wars.
In the 1800s, most citizens worked as farmers and lived far from their polling place. Since people often traveled by horse at least a day to vote, lawmakers needed to allow a two-day window for Election Day. Weekends were impractical, since most people spent Sundays in church, and Wednesday was market day for farmers. With this in mind, Tuesday was selected as the first and most convenient day of the week to hold elections. Farm culture also explains why Election Day always falls in November. Spring and early summer elections were thought to interfere with the planting season, and late summer and early fall elections overlapped with the harvest. That left the late fall month of November — after the harvest was complete, but before the arrival of harsh winter weather — as the best choice.
Previously, states were allowed to hold elections any time they pleased within a 34-day period before the first Wednesday in December. This system had several flaws, however, including the potential for early voting results to affect turnout and sway opinion in states that held late elections, and those same last-minute voters could potentially decide the outcome of the entire election. Faced with these issues, Congress created the current Election Day in the hope of streamlining the voting process.
The winner of the election is not president, but president-elect. The Electoral College electors then formally cast their electoral votes on the first Monday after December 12 at their state's capital. Congress then certifies the results in early January, and the presidential term begins on Inauguration Day, which since the passage of the Twentieth Amendment has been set at 20 January.
United States presidential inauguration
Between 73 and 79 days after the presidential election, the president-elect of the United States is inaugurated as president by taking the presidential oath of office. The inauguration takes place for each new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term.
The first inauguration of George Washington took place on 30 April 1789. All subsequent public inaugurations from 1793 until 1933 were held on 4 March, except in 1821, 1849, 1877, and 1917, when 4 March fell on a Sunday and the public inauguration ceremony took place on Monday, 5 March. Since 1937, it has taken place at noon EST on 20 January, the first day of the new term, except in 1957, 1985, and 2013, when 20 January fell on a Sunday. In those years, the presidential oath of office was administered on that day privately and then again in a public ceremony the next day, on Monday, 21 January.
Since 1789, the oath has been administered at 59 scheduled public inaugurations, by 15 chief justices, one associate justice, and one New York state judge. Others, in addition to the chief justice, have administered the oath of office to several of the nine vice presidents who have succeeded to the presidency upon their predecessor's death or resignation intra-term.
See also
External links
- Learn more about the Presidents of the United States
- Chronological List of Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents of the United States (beginning with George Washington)
