The presidency is the most visible position in the U.S. government. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates accepted the need to empower a relatively strong and vigorous chief executive. But they also wanted this chief executive to be bound by checks from the other branches of the federal government as well as by the Constitution itself. Over time, the power of the presidency has grown in response to circumstances and challenges. However, to this day, a president must still work with the other branches to be most effective. Unilateral actions, in which the president acts alone on important and consequential matters, such as President Barack Obama’s strategy on the Iran nuclear deal, are bound to be controversial and suggest potentially serious problems within the federal government. Effective presidents, especially in peacetime, are those who work with the other branches through persuasion and compromise to achieve policy objectives.

What are the powers, opportunities, and limitations of the presidency? How does the chief executive lead in our contemporary political system? What guides his or her actions, including unilateral actions? If it is most effective to work with others to get things done, how does the president do so? What can get in the way of this goal? This chapter answers these and other questions about the nation’s most visible leader.

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Weekly Objectives

-Topic 4 The Executive Branch-

Executive vs. Legislative Powers Project

This lesson focuses on the war-making powers of the Presidency, with a specific focus on the Vietnam War. Students will first review the President’s Commander in Chief powers outlined in the Constitution. With that Constitutional authority as a foundation for their investigation, students will then consider the war-making power exercised by American presidents during the Vietnam War. Although there was never a Congressional declaration of war, American military advisors were in Vietnam since the 1950s. American intervention in Vietnam would not end until the fall of Saigon in 1975. In addition to the Constitution, students will review both the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the War Powers Act to develop their own answer to the following focus question: How did the President’s war-making powers evolve over the course of the Vietnam War?

Assignment Due 4/5

1. Executive vs. Legislative Powers Packet - Parts 1-3

Late Assignments that Close 4/5

1. Executive Command Game
2. Win the White House Game