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-Civics-
The United States of America
A Democratic Republic - where
the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote for officers
and representatives responsible to them.
The
U.S. Constitution establishes a federal democratic republic form of
government. That is, we have an indivisible union of 50 sovereign
States. It is a democracy because people govern themselves. It is
representative because people choose elected officials by free and
secret ballot.
"Battle Hymn of The Republic"
[Amendments] [Area Codes] [Articles of Confederation] [ ] [Congressional History] [Bill of Rights] [Commonwealths] [Constitution]
[Censure] [Census Statistics] [Declaration
of Independence] [Emancipation Proclamation] [Executive]
[Gettysburg Address]
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[States Rights] [Succession Act] [Supreme Court]
HISTORY AND IT’S IMPORTANCEKnowledge of History is SO IMPORTANT! |
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Many times in history, without the knowledge of past events, small and large, we have found ourselves duplicating errors and misjudgments; those we would not have likely experienced had we referred to the past it is hoped. The importance of knowledge of the past provides for tomorrow's leaders.
Unfortunately, the subject is no longer mandated in America and pole after pole shows that history is dismally lacking from the fourth grade up through institutions of higher learning.
As an aside and extremely important, today most students depend on their cell phones for communication. Should there be a major calamity and the power grid fails, many would lack the skill to actually hold a pen or pencil to correspond with others, as handwriting-cursory is also no longer mandated, and spelling is also seriously lacking. It is evident that we need to provide the skills and interest in handwriting, history and spelling, for the sake of the future.
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Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous
Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events, it
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the
consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to affect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate
that Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are
more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train
of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a
design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their
future security — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and
such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems
of Government. — The history of the present King of Great Britain is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let
facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his
Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has
forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance,
unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and
when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused
to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless
those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature,
a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called
together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing
them into compliance with his measures. He has
dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness
his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused
for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected;
whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to
the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time
exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has
endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose
obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass
others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of
new Appropriations of Lands. He has
obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for
establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made
Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the
amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a
multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our
People, and eat out their substance. He has kept
among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our
legislatures. He has affected
to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined
with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended
Legislation: For Quartering
large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting
them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should
commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off
our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing
Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving
us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For
transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing
the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing
therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render
it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute
rule into these Colonies: For taking away
our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally
the forms of our Governments: For suspending
our own Legislature and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate
for us in all cases whatsoever. He has
abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging
War against us. He has
plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the
lives of our people. He is at this
time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works
of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty
and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has
constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms
against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and
Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited
domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the
inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule
of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and
conditions. In every stage
of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince,
whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is
unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we
been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from
time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable
jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our
emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and
magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to
disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which
denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind,
Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. e, therefore, the
Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress,
Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of
our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these
Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and
of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from
all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection
between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally
dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to
levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do
all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the
support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our
sacred Honor. |
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Gettysburg Address:
Delivered by President Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldiers'
National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of
Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a
half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy
at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.
-Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here
gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting
and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not
consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and
dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor
power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is
for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before
us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.-
According to the House practice manual, "Impeachment is a
constitutional remedy to address serious offenses against the system of
government. It is the first step in a remedial process—that of removal
from public office and possible disqualification from holding further
office. The purpose of impeachment is not punishment; rather, its
function is primarily to maintain constitutional government." Impeachment may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal
elements.The Constitution provides that "Judgment in Cases of
Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and
disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit
under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be
liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment,
according to Law."It is generally accepted that "a former President may
be prosecuted for crimes of which he was acquitted by the Senate". The
U.S. House of Representatives
has impeached an official 21 times since 1789: four times for
presidents, 15 times for federal judges, once for a Cabinet secretary,
and once for a senator.Of the 21, the Senate voted to remove 8 (all
federal judges) from office.The four impeachments of presidents
were:Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump
twice: first in 2019, and a second time in 2021. All four impeachments were followed by acquittal in the Senate. An impeachment process was also commenced against Richard Nixon, but he resigned in 1974 to avoid likely removal from office.
Almost all state constitutions set forth parallel impeachment procedures for state governments,
allowing the state legislature to impeach officials of the state
government. From 1789 through 2008, 14 governors have been impeached
(including two who were impeached twice), of whom seven governors were
convicted. The
U.S. Constitution does not allow for the recall of a president outside
of the impeachment process or the removal of a commander-in-chief who
is deemed unfit for office under the 25th Amendment, and there are no
political recall mechanisms available to voters at the federal level;
voters can't recall members of Congress. There is no way for voters to orchestrate a political recall of the
president. There is no mechanism set forth in the U.S. Constitution that
allows for the removal of a failing president except for impeachment, which is applied only in instances of "high crimes and misdemeanors" no matter how much the public and members of Congress feel that a president should be dismissed from office.
IMPEACHMENT
Article One of the United States
Constitution provides that the House of Representatives has the "sole
Power of Impeachment" and the Senate has "the sole Power to try all
Impeachments". Article Two provides that "The President, Vice President
and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
In the United States, impeachment is the first of two stages; an
official may be impeached by a majority vote of the House, but
conviction and removal from office in the Senate requires "the
concurrence of two thirds of the members present". Impeachment is analogous to an indictment.
Giving /receiving money illegally or unethically to influence a person's behavior is a form of bribery.
Whoever
knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty,
necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the
government of the United States or the government of any State,
Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any
political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the
assassination of any officer of any such government; or
whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such
government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells,
distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter
advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or
propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United
States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group,
or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow
or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes
or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or
assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under
this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall
be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or
agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more
persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty
years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United
States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next
following his conviction.
Treasonous Activity by the President of the US.
The Constitution specifically
identifies what constitutes treason against the United States and,
importantly, limits the offense of treason to only two types of
conduct: (1) “levying war” against the United States; or (2) “adhering
to [the] enemies [of the United States], giving them aid and comfort.”
| Presidents of the United States of America -Hall of United States Presidents in order- |
| GEORGE WASHINGTON |
| "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" President Washington was American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army, Washington led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and served as the president of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which created the Constitution of the United States and the American federal government. Washington has been called the "Father of the Nation" for his manifold leadership in the formative days of the country. Washington's first public office was serving as the official surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia from 1749 to 1750. Subsequently, he received his initial military training (as well as a command with the Virginia Regiment) during the French and Indian War. He was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and was named a delegate to the Continental Congress where he was appointed Commanding General of the Continental Army. With this title, he commanded American forces (allied with France) in the defeat and surrender of the British at the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War. He resigned his commission after the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. Washington played an indispensable role in adopting and ratifying the Constitution of the United States. He was then twice elected president by the Electoral College unanimously. As president, he implemented a strong, well-financed national government while remaining impartial in a fierce rivalry between cabinet members Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. During the French Revolution, he proclaimed a policy of neutrality while sanctioning the Jay Treaty. He set enduring precedents for the office of president, including the title "Mr. President", and swearing the Oath of Office on the Bible. His Farewell Address is widely regarded as a pre-eminent statement on republicanismBorn: Popes Creek, Virginia (British Frontier) b. Feburary 22, 1732 d. December 14, 1799 |
| JOHN ADAMS |
President Adams was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain and during the war, served as a diplomat in Europe. He was twice elected vice president, serving from 1789 to 1797 in a prestigious role with little power. Adams was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with many important contemporaries, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams as well as his friend and rival Thomas Jefferson. He assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776. As a diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain and secured vital governmental loans. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which influenced the United States constitution, as did his essay Thoughts on Government. During his term, he became the first president to reside in the executive mansion now known as the' White House' on November 1, 1800. Born: Braintree (Quincy), Massachusetts: b. October 30, 1735 d. July 4, 1826 |
| Thomas Jefferson |
President Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the second vice president under John Adams and the first United States secretary of state under George Washington. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation. He produced formative documents and decisions at state, national, and international levels. Freckled and sandy-haired, rather tall and awkward, Jefferson was eloquent as a correspondent, but he was no public speaker. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen rather than his voice to the patriot cause. As the “silent member” of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence. In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786. Born: Shadwell, Virginia b. April 13, 1743 d. July 4, 1826 |
| James Madison |
| President James Madison was the 4th president of the United States. After attending boarding school and
receiving private tutoring, Madison attended what is now Princeton
University in New Jersey. He returned to his family’s home, Montpelier,
in 1772. He became a colonel in the Virginia militia, and he represented
Orange County in the Virginia Convention of 1776. He befriended Thomas
Jefferson soon after, and he worked with George Mason to draft the
constitution of Virginia. He became a member of the Continental Congress
in 1780. He returned to Virginia several years later, serving in the
state legislature. There, he aided in the passing of a document written
by Jefferson, Virginia’s Statute of Religious Freedom.
He later attended the Constitution Convention, representing Virginia. This was followed by his election to the House of Representatives in 1789. Madison was instrumental in the writing of the Bill of Rights. He is often referred to as the Father of the Constitution because of his work on the United States Constitution. He was also the person who drafted the first ten amendments to the constitution. He served as Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state. Madison won the presidential election of 1808 by a wide margin, becoming the 4th president of the United States. Conflict with Great Britain increased during his presidency, resulting in the War of 1812. He served a second term as president, followed by helping Thomas Jefferson found the University of Virginia. He died at Montpelier in 1836. born:Orange County, Virginiab. March 16, 1751 d. June 28, 1836 |
| James Monroe |
| President James Monroe was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
Madison
was born into a prominent planter family in Virginia. He served as a
member of the Virginia House of Delegates and the Continental Congress
during and after the American Revolutionary War. Disillusioned by the
weak national government established by the Articles of Confederation,
he helped organize the Constitutional Convention, which produced a new
constitution. Madison's Virginia Plan served as the basis for the
Convention's deliberations, and he was one of the most influential
individuals at the convention. He became one of the leaders in the
movement to ratify the Constitution, and joined Alexander Hamilton and
John Jay in writing The Federalist Born: Westmoreland County, Virginia b. April 26, 1758 d. July 4, 1831 |
| John Quincy Adams |
| President John Quincy Adams was the
6th President of the United States. He was the son of John Adams, the
1st vice president who served under George Washington. John Adams Sr.
went on to later become the 2nd President of the United States. He was
born in Massachusetts in 1767. Adams traveled as a youth, and attended
schools in both Amsterdam and France. He attended Harvard College and
later studied law. Adams graduated with his degree and then went on and
practiced law for several years. A short time later he became a minister
to the Netherlands. Following that appointment, he became a minister to
Prussia as well. He served as a senator from 1803 to 1808, and was
later named minister to Russia and then to Great Britain. He served as
secretary of state under James Monroe from 1817 to 1825.
After many years in different political offices he went on to run for another. In 1824, John Adams ran for President against Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. However, a majority winner could not be determined, as Jackson and Adams both had many popular and electoral votes, so the vote was sent to the House of Representatives. Clay withdrew from the race, giving his support to Adams, and Adams won the vote. He chose Clay as his secretary of state. During his time as president, he negotiated several significant treaties. He served in the House of Representatives for many years following his presidency, and he died in 1848. Born: Braintree, Massachusetts July 11, 1767 d. February 23, 1848 |
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Andrew Jackson
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| President Andrew
Jackson served in both houses of the U.S.. He was an American lawyer,
planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of
the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the
presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army.
Jackson was an expansionist president,having sought to advance the
rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to
preserve the union of states. Often praised as an advocate for ordinary
Americans and for his work in keeping the states together, Born: Colonial Carolinas b. March 15, 1767 d. February 23, 1845 |
| Martin Van Buren |
| President Martin
Van Buren was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth
president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A founder of the
Democratic Party, he had previously served as the ninth governor of New
York, the tenth United States secretary of state, and the eighth vice president of the United States.
Later in his life, Van Buren emerged as an elder statesman and an
important anti-slavery leader who led the Free Soil Party ticket in the
1848 presidential election. Born: Kinderhook, New York b. December 5, 1782 d. July 24, 1862 |
| William Henry Harrison |
| President William Henry Harrison
was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth
president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his
inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest presidency in United States
history. He was also the first United States president to die in
office, and a brief constitutional crisis resulted as presidential
succession was not then fully defined in the United States Constitution.
Harrison was the last president born as a British subject in the
Thirteen Colonies and was the paternal grandfather of Benjamin
Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States. Born: Charles City County, Virginia, b. February 9, 1773 d. April 4, 1841 |
| John Tyler |
| President John Tyler was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president
in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig ticket with
President William Henry Harrison, succeeding to the presidency after
Harrison's death 31 days after assuming office. Tyler was a stalwart
supporter and advocate of states' rights, including regarding slavery,
and he adopted nationalistic policies as president only when they did
not infringe on the powers of the states. His unexpected rise to the
presidency posed a threat to the presidential ambitions of Henry Clay
and other Whig politicians, and left Tyler estranged from both of the
nation's major political parties at the time. Born: Cmmonwealth of Virginia. b. March 29, 1790 d. Janauary 18, 1862 |
| James Knox Polk |
| President James Knox Polk
was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849.
He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives
(1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (1839–1841). A protégé of
Andrew Jackson, he was a member of the Democratic Party and an advocate
of Jacksonian democracy. Polk is chiefly known for extending the
territory of the United States through the Mexican–American War; during
his presidency, the United States expanded significantly with the
annexation of the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the
Mexican Cession following American victory in the Mexican–American War. Born: Pineville, North Carolina, b. November 2, 1795 d. June 15, 1849 |
Zachary Taylor
President
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American
military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States
from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor previously was a career
officer in the United States Army, rising to the rank of major general
and becoming a national hero as a result of his victories in the
Mexican–American War. As a result, he won election to the White House
despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was
preserving the Union. He died sixteen months into his term.
Born: Barboursville, Virginia
b. November 24, 1784 d. July 9, 1850
| Millard Fillmore |
| President Millard Fillmore was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853, the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Upstate New York, Fillmore was elected as the 12th vice president in 1848, and succeeded to the presidency in July 1850 upon the death of U.S. President Zachary Taylor. Fillmore was instrumental in the passing of the Compromise of 1850, a bargain that led to a brief truce in the battle over the expansion of slavery. He failed to win the Whig nomination for president in 1852 but gained the endorsement of the nativist Know Nothing Party four years later and finished third in the 1856 presidential election. b. January 7, 1800 d. March 8, 1874 Moravia, New York |
| Franklin Pierce |
| President Franklin Pierce was the 14th president of the United States serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. He alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, and conflict between North and South persisted until southern states seceded and the American Civil War began in 1861.
Born: Hillsborough County, New Hampshire b. November 23, 1804 d. October 8, 1869 |
| James Buchanan Jr. |
| President
James Buchanan Jr. was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who
served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He
previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and
represented Pennsylvania in both houses of the U.S. Congress. He was an advocate for states' rights, particularly regarding slavery, and minimized the role of the federal government preceding the Civil War. Born:Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, b. April 23, 1791 d. June 1, 1868 |
| Abraham Lincoln |
|
President Abraham Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky and was raised on the frontier, primarily in Indiana. He was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy. Lincoln managed his own successful re-election campaign. He sought to heal the war-torn nation through reconciliation. On April 14, 1865, just days after the war's end at Appomattox, he was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., with his wife Mary when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Abraham Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. Lincoln is often ranked in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history.Born: Hodgenville, Kentucky, b. February 12, 1809 d. April 15, 1865 |
| Andrew Johnson |
| President Andrew Johnson
was born into poverty and never attended school. Born in a cabin as was
Lincoln. He was the 17th president of the United States, serving from
1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president
at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a
Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, coming to
office as the Civil War concluded. He favored quick restoration of the
seceded states to the Union without protection for the newly freed
people who were formerly enslaved. This led to conflict with the
Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the
House of Representatives in 1868. He was acquitted in the Senate by one
vote. Born: Raleigh, North Carolina b. December 29, 1808 d. July 31, 1875 |
| Ulysses S. Grant |
| President Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant)
was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th
president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding
General, he led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in
1865 and thereafter briefly served as Secretary of War. Later, as
president, Grant was an effective civil rights executive who signed the
bill that created the Justice Department and worked with Radical
Republicans to protect African Americans during Reconstruction. Born: Point Pleasant, Ohio, b. April 27, 1822 d. July 23, 1885 |
| Rutherford Birchard Hayes |
|
President Rutherford Birchard Hayes was an American lawyer businessman and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor of Ohio. Before the American Civil War, Hayes was a lawyer and staunch abolitionist who defended refugee slaves in court proceedings. He served in the Union Army and the House of Representatives before assuming the presidency. His presidency represents a turning point in U.S. history, as historians consider it the formal end of Reconstruction. Hayes, a prominent member of the Republican "Half-Breed" faction, placated both Southern Democrats and Whiggish Republican businessmen by ending the federal government's involvement in attempting to bring racial equality in the South. Born: Delaware, Ohio |
| James Abram Garfield |
|
President James Abram Garfield was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his death six months later, two months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War general, he served nine terms in the House of Representatives and was the only sitting member of the House to be elected president. Garfield was born into poverty and lived in a log cabin. Born: Moreland Hills, Ohiob. November 19, 1831 d. September 19, 1881 |
| Chester Alan Arthur |
|
President Chester Alan Arthur was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. Previously the 20th US vice president, he succeeded to the presidency upon the death of President James A. Garfield in September 1881, two months after Garfield was shot by an assassin. Born: Fairfield, Vermontb. October 5, 1829 d. November 18, 1886 |
| Stephen Grover Cleveland |
| President
Stephen Grover Cleveland was an American lawyer and politician who
served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to
1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American
history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. He won the
popular vote for three presidential elections—in 1884, 1888, and
1892—and was one of two Democrats (followed by Woodrow Wilson in 1912)
to be elected president during the era of Republican presidential
domination dating from 1861 to 1933. Born: Caldwell, New Jersey b. March 18, 1837 d. June 24, 1908 |
| William McKinley |
| President William McKinley was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. He was president during the Spanish–American War of 1898, raised protective tariffs to boost American industry, and rejected the expansionary monetary policy of free silver, keeping the nation on the gold standard.
Born: Niles,Ohio b. January 29, 1843 d. September 14, 1901 |
| Theodore Roosevelt Jr. |
| President Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist,
naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26th president of
the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as the 25th vice president
under President William McKinley from March to September 1901 and as
the 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. Having assumed the
presidency after McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt emerged as a
leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for
anti-trust and Progressive policies.
Born: New York City b. October 27, 1858 d. January 6, 1858 |
| William Howard Taft |
| President William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States
(1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was
elected president in 1908, the chosen successor of Theodore Roosevelt,
but was defeated for reelection in 1912 by Woodrow Wilson after
Roosevelt split the Republican vote by running as a third-party
candidate. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be
chief justice, a position he held until a month before his death.
Cincinnati, Ohio b. September 15, 1857 d. March 8, 1930 |
| Thomas Woodrow Wilson |
| President
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who
served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A
member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of Princeton University
and as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential
election. As president, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies
and led the United States into World War I in 1917. He was the leading
architect of the League of Nations, and his progressive stance on
foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism. Born: Staunton, Virginia b. December 28, 1856 d. February 3, 1924 |
| Warren Gamaliel Harding |
| President
Warren Gamaliel Harding as the 29th president of the United States,
serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican
Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. After
his death, a number of scandals were exposed, including Teapot Dome, as
well as an extramarital affair, which diminished his reputation.
Born: Bloomin Grove, Ohio b. November 2, 1865 d. August 2, 1923 |
| John Calvin Coolidge Jr |
| President Calvin Coolidge
was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929.
Coolidge was a Republican lawyer from New England who climbed up the
ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming the 48th
governor of Massachusetts. the Boston Police Strike
of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight and gave him a
reputation as a man of decisive action. The next year, he was elected
the 29th vice president,
and he succeeded to the presidency upon the sudden death of President
Warren G. Harding in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924. Born: Plymouth Notch, Vermont b. July 4, 1872 d. January 5, 1933 |
| Herbert Clark Hoover |
| President Herbert Clark Hoover was an American politician and engineer who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Great Depression. Before serving as president, Hoover led the Commission for Relief in Belgium, served as the director of the U.S. Food Administration, and served as the third U.S. secretary of commerce.
Born: West Branch, Iowa b. August 10, 1874 d. October 20, 1964 |
| Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
| President Franklin Delano Roosevelt often referred to by his initials FDR,
was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd
president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As a
member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential
elections and became a central figure in world events during the first
half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government
during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic
agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. As a
dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended shortly after he died in office. Born: Hyde Park, New York b. Janaaury 30, 1882 d. April 12, 1945 |
| Harry S. Truman |
| President Harry S. Truman was
the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A
member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice
president from January to April 1945 under Franklin Roosevelt and as a
United States Senator from Missouri from 1935 to January 1945. Having
assumed the presidency after Roosevelt's death, Truman implemented the
Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established
both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of
communism. He proposed numerous liberal domestic reforms, but few were
enacted by the Conservative Coalition which dominated the Congress. Born: Lamar, Missouri b. May 8, 1884 d. December 26, 1972 |
| Dwight David Eisenhower |
| President Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force
in Europe, and achieved the five-star rank of General of the Army. He
planned and supervised the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch
in 1942–1943 and the invasion of Normandy
(D-Day) from the Western Front in 1944–1945. His administration
undertook the development and construction of the Interstate Highway
System, which remains the largest construction of roadways in American
history. In 1957, following the Soviet launch of Sputnik, Eisenhower
lead the American response which included the creation of NASA and the
establishment of a stronger, science-based education via the National
Defense Education Act. Born: Denison, Texas B. October 14, 1890 d. March 28, 1969 |
| John Fitzgerald Kennedy |
| President
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy was an American politician who served as
the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his
assassination near the end of his third year in office. Kennedy was the
youngest person to assume the presidency by election. He was also the
youngest president at the end of his tenure. Kennedy served at the
height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president
concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. As a Democrat, he
represented Massachusetts in both houses of the U.S. Congress prior to his presidency. Born: Brookline Massachusetts b. May 29, 1917 d. November 22, 1963 |
| Lyndon Baines Johnson |
|
President Lyndon Baines Johnson was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963 under President John F. Kennedy, and was sworn in shortly after Kennedy's assassination. A Democrat from Texas, Johnson also served as a U.S. representative, U.S. senator and the Senate's majority leader. He holds the distinction of being one of the few presidents who served in all elected offices at the federal level. Born in a farmhouse. Johnson became the only American statesman to have been re-elected to both Congressional houses and to the presidency. Born: Stonewall, Texasb. August 27, 1908 d. January 22, 1973 |
| Richard Milhous Nixon |
| President Richard Milhous Nixon
was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974.
A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a
representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice
president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His
five years in the White House saw reduction of U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first manned
Moon landings, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early, when he became the only president to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal.
Nixon ended American involvement in Vietnam combat in 1973, and with it, the military draft, that same year. Born: Yorba Linda, California b. Janaury 9, 1913 d. April 22, 1994 |
| Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr |
| President
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr) was an American
politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from
1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected to
the office of president or vice president. He previously served as the
leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and was
appointed to be the 40th vice president
in 1973. When President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford succeeded
to the presidency, but was defeated for election to a full term in
1976.
Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the
Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his
tenure. In one of his most controversial acts, he granted a presidential pardon to Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. Born: Omaha, Nebraska b. July 14, 1913 d. December 26, 2006 |
| James Earl Carter Jr. |
| President
James Earl Carter Jr is an American former politician who served as the
39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the
Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia
from 1971 to 1975 and as a Georgia state senator
from 1963 to 1967. Since leaving office, Carter has remained engaged in
political and social projects, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002
for his humanitarian work. Carter is both the oldest living and
longest-lived president, as well as the one with the longest
post-presidency Born: Plains, Georgia b. October 1, 1924 |
| Ronald Wilson Reagan |
| President Ronald Wilson Reagan
served as the 40th president of the
United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party from
1962 onward, he served as the 33rd governor of California, hollywood
actor and union leader.
When Reagan left office in 1989, he held an approval rating of 68%,
matching those of Franklin D. Roosevelt and later Bill Clinton as the
highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era. His tenure constituted a re-alignment toward conservative policies in the United States known as the Reagan Era,
and he is often considered a conservative icon. Evaluations of his
presidency among historians and the general public place him among the upper tier of American presidents. In his win over the democratic nominee, Walter Mondale, He won the most electoral votes of any U.S. president: 525 (97.6% of the 538 votes in the Electoral College).and 50.7 percent of the popular vote, it was one of the most lopsided presidential elections in U.S. history. Reagan was also the oldest person to assume the U.S. presidency, at that time of his inauguration, he was a few weeks short of 70 years of age. Born: Tampico, Illinois b. february 6, 1911 d. June 5, 200 |
| George Herbert Walker Bush |
| President George Herbert Walker Bush was an American politician, diplomat, and
businessman who served as the 41st president of the United States from
1989 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as
the 43rd vice president from 1981 to 1989 under President Ronald
Reagan, in the U.S. House of Representatives, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and as Director of Central Intelligence. Historians generally rank. Bush as an above-average president. Born: Milton Massachusetts b. June 12, 1924 d. November 30, 2018 |
| William Jefferson Clinton |
|
President William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992, and as attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton became known as a New Democrat. Clinton was born and raised in Arkansas and attended Georgetown University. He received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at University College, Oxford and later graduated from Yale Law School. He met Hillary Rodham at Yale; they married in 1975. After graduating from law school, Clinton returned to Arkansas and won election as state attorney general, followed by two non-consecutive terms as Arkansas governor.Born: Hope, Arkansas b. August 19, 1946 |
| George Walker Bush |
| President George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. He also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the nation. In the 2000 presidential election, Bush defeated Democratic incumbent Vice President Al Gore after a narrow and contested win that involved a Supreme Court decision to stop a recount in Florida. He became the fourth person to be elected president without a popular vote victory. Born: New Haven, Connecticut b. July 6, 1945 |
| Barack Hussein Obama II |
| President Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president of the United States. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Obama received national attention in 2004 with his March Senate primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate. In 2008, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama was elected over Republican nominee John McCain in the general election. Born: Honolulu, Hawaii, b. Ausgust 4, 1961 |
| Donald John Trump |
|
President
Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and
businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from
2017 to 2021/ Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. He won the 2016 United States presidential election as the Republican nominee against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in 1968, later He became president of The Trump Organization. Born: Queens, New York City, New York b. June 14, 1946 |
| Joseph Robinette Biden Jr |
| President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the
United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served
as the 47th vice president
from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama and represented Delaware
in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009. Biden ran unsuccessfully
for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008. He was the
fourth-most senior sitting senator when he became Obama's vice
president after they won the 2008 presidential election. Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, defeated incumbent Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Upon inauguration, he became the oldest president in U.S. history and the first to have a female vice president. Born: Scranton, Pennsylvania b. November 20, 1942 |
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Map of the United States of
America
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The U.S. Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 outline the presidential order of succession. The line of succession of cabinet officers is in the order of their agencies’ creation. If the President of the United States is incapacitated, dies, resigns, is for any reason unable to hold his/her office, or is removed from office, he/she will be replaced in the following order:
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· Territory of American Samoa (A group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand). · Territory of Guam (Oceania, island in the North Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines). · Territory of the Virgin Islands (The islands are located east of Puerto Rico and north of Haiti in the Caribbean Sea). · Commonwealth of Washington, D.C. (Washington, D.C. is neither a state nor territory, but has a government that resembles both). The District of Columbia is under the direct authority of Congress, and was established from territory ceded by the states of Maryland and Virginia. Formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 effectively merged the City and the Territory into a single entity called the District of Columbia. It is for this reason that the city, while legally named the District of Columbia, is known as Washington, D.C. · Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (A group of islands in the Pacific Ocean located east of the Philippines and south of Japan). · Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Caribbean island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of the Dominican Republic ) was once a territory. · Territories and commonwealths are partially self-governing areas that have not been granted statehood. The indigenous peoples of these areas are citizens of the United States. · These areas may have one non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives |
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President In accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of
my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States." Congress: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this
obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and
that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I
am about to enter: So help me God". At
the start of each new Congress, in January of every odd-numbered year, the
entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate performs a solemn
and festive constitutional rite that is as old as the Republic. While the
oath-taking dates back to the First Congress in 1789, the current oath is a
product of the 1860s, drafted by Civil War-era members of Congress intent on
ensnaring traitors. The
Constitution contains an oath of office only for the president. For other
officials, including members of Congress, that document specifies only that
they "shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to support this
constitution." In 1789, the First Congress reworked this requirement into
a simple fourteen-word oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will
support the Constitution of the United States." For
nearly three-quarters of a century, that oath served nicely, although to the
modern ear it sounds woefully incomplete. Missing are the soaring references to
bearing "true faith and allegiance;" to taking "this obligation
freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;" and to
"well and faithfully" discharging the duties of the office. The
outbreak of the Civil War quickly transformed the routine act of oath-taking
into one of enormous significance. In April of 1861, a time of uncertain and
shifting loyalties, President Abraham Lincoln ordered all federal civilian
employees within the executive branch to take an expanded oath. When Congress
convened for a brief emergency session in July, members echoed the president's
action by enacting legislation requiring employees to take the expanded oath in
support of the Union. This oath is the earliest direct predecessor of the
modern oath. When
Congress returned for its regular session in December 1861, members who
believed that the Union had as much to fear from northern traitors as southern
soldiers again revised the oath, adding a new first section known as the
"Ironclad Test Oath." The war-inspired Test Oath, signed into law on
July 2, 1862, required "every person elected or appointed to any office
... under the Government of the United States ... excepting the President of
the United States" to swear or affirm that they had never previously
engaged in criminal or disloyal conduct. Those government employees who failed
to take the 1862 Test Oath would not receive a salary; those who swore falsely
would be prosecuted for perjury and forever denied federal employment. The
1862 oath's second section incorporated a more polished and graceful rendering
of the hastily drafted 1861oath. Although Congress did not extend coverage of
the Ironclad Test Oath to its own members, many took it voluntarily. Angered by
those who refused this symbolic act during a wartime crisis, and determined to
prevent the eventual return of prewar southern leaders to positions of power in
the national government, congressional hard-liners eventually succeeded by 1864
in making the Test Oath mandatory for all members. The
Senate then revised its rules to require that members not only take the Test
Oath orally, but also that they "subscribe" to it by signing a
printed copy. This condition reflected a wartime practice in which military and
civilian authorities required anyone wishing to do business with the federal
government to sign a copy of the Test Oath. The current practice of newly sworn
senators signing individual pages in an elegantly bound oath book dates from
this period. As
tensions cooled during the decade following the Civil War, Congress enacted
private legislation permitting particular former Confederates to take only the
second section of the 1862 oath. An 1868 public law prescribed this alternative
oath for "any person who has participated in the late rebellion, and from
whom all legal disabilities arising therefrom have been removed by act of
Congress." Northerners immediately pointed to the new law's unfair
double standard that required loyal Unionists to take the Test Oath's harsh
first section while permitting ex-Confederates to ignore it. In 1884, a new
generation of lawmakers quietly repealed the first section of the Test Oath,
leaving intact today's moving affirmation of constitutional allegiance. |
Amen - 'So Be It'.
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| PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE |
| "I
pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to
the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, Indivisable,
with libery and justice for all" |
PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION
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| STATES RIGHTS (10 Amendment) |
| In American government,
states’ rights are the rights and powers reserved by the state
governments rather than the national government according to the U.S.
Constitution. The doctrine of states rights holds that the federal government is barred from interfering with certain rights “reserved” to the individual states by the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In establishing American government’s power-sharing system of federalism, the Bill of Rights' 10th Amendment holds that all rights and powers not specifically reserved to Congress by Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution or to be shared concurrently by the federal and state governments are reserved by either the states or by the people. In order to prevent the states from claiming too much power, the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) holds that all laws enacted by the state governments must comply with the Constitution, and that whenever a law enacted by a state conflicts with a federal law, the federal law must be applied. |
| SUPREME COURT |
| Is the boundaries of authority between state and nation, state and state, and government and citizen. The Supreme Court was created by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as the head of a federal court system, though it was not formally established until Congress passed the Judiciary Act in 1789. Although the Constitution outlined the powers, structure, and functions of the legislative and executive branches of government in some detail, it did not do the same for the judicial branch, leaving much of that responsibility to Congress and stipulating only that judicial power be “vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” As the country’s court of last resort, the Supreme Court is an appellate body, vested with the authority to act in cases arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States; in controversies to which the United States is a party; in disputes between states or between citizens of different states; and in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. In suits affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls and in cases in which states are a party, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction—i.e., it serves as a trial court. Relatively few cases reach the court through its original jurisdiction, however; instead, the vast majority of the court’s business and nearly all of its most influential decisions derive from its appellate jurisdiction. As the country’s court of last resort, the Supreme Court is an appellate body, vested with the authority to act in cases arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States; in controversies to which the United States is a party; in disputes between states or between citizens of different states; and in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. In suits affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls and in cases in which states are a party, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction—i.e., it serves as a trial court. Relatively few cases reach the court through its original jurisdiction, however; instead, the vast majority of the court’s business and nearly all of its most influential decisions derive from its appellate jurisdiction. According
to the Constitution, appointments to the Supreme Court and to the lower
federal courts are made by the president with the advice and consent of
the Senate,
though presidents have rarely consulted the Senate before making a
nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee ordinarily conducts hearings
on nominations to the Supreme Court, and a simple majority of the full
Senate is required for confirmation. When the position of chief justice is
vacant, the president may appoint a chief justice from outside the
court or elevate an associate justice to the position. In either case a
simple majority of the Senate must approve the appointment. Members of
the Supreme Court are appointed for life terms, though they may be
expelled if they are impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted in the Senate. The Supreme Court exercises the power of judicial review, whereby it can declare acts of Congress or the state legislatures unconstitutional. Executive, administrative, and judicial actions also are subject to review by the court.
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