U.S. Government: Presidential and Legislative Powers

Presidential Powers

• Executive Branch:

  • President serves two 4-year terms.
  • Appoints the Cabinet and Supreme Court Judges.
  • Can pardon federal offenses and negotiate foreign treaties.
  • Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
  • Can veto legislation (requires Congressional approval for war declarations).
  • Must be invited to address Congress.

• Vice President:

  • Preside over the Senate.
  • Becomes President if the current president is incapacitated.

• Cabinet:

  • Heads of executive departments.

Legislative Branch

• Senate:

  • Equal representation per state (100 members).
  • 6-year terms.
  • Control over taxation, spending, and lawmaking.
  • Power to declare war.
  • Confirm Supreme Court Judges.
  • Can reject Cabinet appointees.
  • Can reject treaties with a ⅔ majority.
  • Conduct impeachment trials (requires a ⅔ majority).
  • Filibuster
  • Meets at the Capitol Building.

• House of Representatives:

  • Representation based on population (435 members).
  • 2-year terms.
  • Control over taxation, spending, and lawmaking.
  • Power to declare war.
  • Power to impeach the president.
  • Meets at the Capitol Building.
  • Filibuster
  • Can enact vetoes with a ⅔ majority.

Judicial Branch

• Supreme Court:
  • Judges serve for life (9 members).
  • Interpret laws.
  • Can reject executive orders and declare laws unconstitutional.

Colonial America and Early Settlement (1607–1763)

• 1607: Founding of Jamestown

  • Started when the Virginia Company funded a voyage to extract gold and silver from the "New World"

  • Established and named in honour of King James I

  • Relations with the Native Americans were good at first but soon deteriorated

  • There was no gold but the colony grew adapting to agriculture.

  • It was led by captain John Smith

• 1630-American Revolution: Indentured Slaves

  • People who signed a contract to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to the American colonies

• 1692-93: Salem Witch Trials

  • Tituba entertained Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam. That started acting weird. Tituba was accused of being a witch.

  • Reasons for the trail's ending: Governor Phips’ wife was accused and spectral evidence was denounced (evidence based on dreams or spirits) and no longer admissible in court.

  • Over 62 people accused, 20 killed.

• 1754–1763: French and Indian War (French & Indigenous try to stop British Expansion).

  • Focused on control over the lucrative fur trade

  • The American Colonists wanted control over Ohio Valley from French and Indigenous

  • Ended because of the Treaty of Paris; Gave Great Britain control of most of France's North American territories, which more than doubled the size of its American colonies

American Revolution and Founding of the Nation (1763–1789)

• 1763: Proclamation of 1763

  • Established the structure for the new territories in North America that Britain won from France after the War

  • British did it to respect the Indigenous, Americans ignored it

• 1764: Sugar Act

  • Strongly enforced tax on sugar, molasses, and other products imported to American Colonies from the British.

• 1765: Stamp Act

  • Tax on paper goods, led to colonial protests

• 1770: Boston Massacre

  • Killed 5 colonists, escalated tensions

  • 2 soldiers convicted of manslaughter

  • 5 soldiers and 1 British officer were not charge

  • John Adams was their lawyer

• 1773: Boston Tea Party

  • Tea Act: Reduced the tax on important British tea so it gave the British an advantage to selling their tea

  • In protest of this a group of American colonists threw boxes of their tea into the Boston Harbour

• 1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord

  • Started the Revolutionary War

  • 700 Brits were sent to destroy military supplies that were thought to be hidden in Concord.

  • At Lexington, 70 armed minutemen ran into the British and 8 of them were killed and another 10 wounded.

  • The British went off to Concord where they got ambushed and 250 of them died while only 100 Americans died.

• 1775-77: Other American Revolution Battles:

  • Bunker Hill (75) british failed to take Americans bunker

  • Quebec (75) failed American attempt to invade Canada

  • Trenton (76) Attacks caused British troops to go back, turning point of America

  • Saratoga (77) British surrendered and America won

• 1776: Declaration of Independence

  • July 4th

  • Written by Thomas Jefferson

  • Announced the separation of American from Great Britain

• 1781: Battle of Yorktown

  • French Allies surrounded the British

  • British surrendered at Yorktown

• 1783: Treaty of Paris ends Revolutionary War.

  • Signed by British and Americans, ending the war to the American Revolution

  • The United States boarded and gave them independence.

• 1787: Constitutional Convention drafts the U.S. Constitution

  • Foundation for the New Government

  • Outlined government branches (legislative, executive, and judicial)

• 1789: Ratification of the Constitution, George Washington becomes the first President.

Expansion and Early 19th Century (1800–1860)

• 1803: Louisiana Purchase doubled U.S. territory.

  • France sold it to U.S for $15,000,000

  • Napoleon needed the money to fight the British

  • It was the same size as America was at the time

• 1804-06: Lewis and Clark Expedition

  • Aided the fur trade and strengthened the U.S claims on the pacific

  • Sent to find a river that went across America (failed)

  • Provided lots of scientive descriptions of new animals and charted new land

• 1812-67: Manifest Destiny

  • They thought it was their destiny to develop on the land and expand further.

  • They believed that they had to bring happiness Westward (wipe out Natives and bring light)

  • The Creation of Texas

    • The Texans revolted against the Mexican Government and became their on Country

    • They wanted to join the U.S but the president said no.

      • When Polk became president a year later he brought them in as a new state

• 1812–1815: War of 1812 (U.S. vs. Britain, solidified independence)

  • Causes:

    • Britain was supposed to hand over forts but did not

    • Britain used the Indigenous as a buffer between Canada and America, and gave them weapons

    • Britain was being dominated by Napoleon and stopped all U.S ships

    • Britain would stop U.S ships looking for their soldiers who tried to escape

    • British ship stopped the U.S. Chesapeake ship and seize many citizens, and killing 20

  • Impact:

    • Nobody really lost the war

    • It was a trail on the U.S. Constitution and their government

Mormons

• 1820: Joseph Smith got his vision from God

  • He create Mormonism and a fake theology

  • They separated themselves from others

• They were persecuted because they were a menace to others

• They were went to Ohio, got pushed to Missourti, got kicked out to Mexico

  • They then became a state, Utah. 

  • U.S government made laws to “control” them such as pologomey is illegal

Before Civil War

• 1619-1808: The slave trade was brought to American the made illegal but slavery was still legal

• 1808: Slavery was very legal and prominent in Southern States

  • They would work for 14 hours in the summer

  • They would be brutally punished and emotionally, verably, physically, and sexually abused.

  • They would be auctioned off to buyers

• 1820: Missouri Compromise

  • Issue: Missouri just entered the union. Should a new state be allowed to become a new state?

  • North: No, because he leads to the expansion of slavery

  • South: Yes, they need to keep balance of slave and non-slave states

  • Result: Mississippi entered the union as a slavery state

• 1830: Indian Removal Act (Trail of Tears begins).

• 1846–1848: Mexican-American War (U.S. gains Southwest territories).

• 1850: Compromise of 1850

  • Issue: Lots of settlers were moving to old Mexico. Should slavery be allowed in new states being made?

  • North: Freed imported slaves and harrassed those who wanted to capture slaves

  • South: Denounced North people's response 

  • Response: California = Free state. The free slave act started, escaped slaves were captured and returned back to owners.

• 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act (led to "Bleeding Kansas").

  • Issue: 2 states wanted to become slave states? Should slavery be allowed above the 36-30 line?

  • North: No it contradicts with Mississippi Compromise

  • South: Yes, states should be allowed to make their own discussions

  • Response: Nebraska = slave state. Kansas = Free state. And the Mississippi compromise was overturned

• 1857: Dred Scott decision (denied citizenship to African Americans).

  • Issue: He was a slave who moved to a free state with the owner. Owner dies, should he go back to old state and stay a slave or become free?

  • North: Free. if they weren’t it would legitmas slavery

  • South: African Americans are citizens = legally he can’t sue

  • Response: He is not a U.S. Citizen and he had no rights to appeal discussion. He returned to Mississippi and stayed a slave.

• 1860: Election of Abraham Lincoln (triggered secession of Southern states).

  • Lincoln wan with only 40% of votes, and most southern states didn’t have him on the ballet

  • Between Dec 20, 1860 - Feb 18, 1861 8 states seceded

    • South Carolina. Florida. Alabama. Louisiana. Mississippi. Texas. Georgia. Virgina.

Civil War and Reconstruction (1861–1877)

• 1861: Fort Sumter (Civil War battle #1 April)

  • South Carolina

  • Confederate Artillery open fire the federal fort

  • Union surrendered for to the confederacy

• 1861-65: The other Civil War Battles

  • Bull Run: July 61 Virginia Battle #2

    • 1st major battle sends Union army back to Washington

  • Ironclads: March 62 Virginia Battle #3

    • 1st battle between ships, it ends in a draw

  • Shiloh: April 62 Tennessee Battle #4

    • Grant secures control of the Mississippi valley for Union

  • New Orleans: April 62 Louisiana Battle #5

    • Farragut leads people storming defence of New Orleans and occupies the city

  • Antietam: September 62 Maryland Battle #6

    • Bloodiest 1-day battle forced General Lee to retreat abandoning attempt to invade the North

  • Vicksburg: July 61 Mississippi Battle #8

    • After a 6-week siege Confederates in Mississippi surrendered to Grant.

    • River is now controlled by both Union & Confederacy

  • Morris Island: July 63 South Carolina Battle #9

    • Union Colonel Shaw leads 54th Massachusetts Black Regiment into a battle at Charleston Harbour

  • Shermas March to Sea: May-December 64 Georgia Battle #10

    • Sherman destroyed everything in his path, burning and captured

    • He disrupts and ruins the Southerns economy

  • Carolinas: January-March 65 South Carolina Battle #11

    • Sherman occupies the Carolines, the Confederacy redacted Virginia

  • Appomattox: April 65 Virginia Battle #12

    • Confederate Army surrenders and General Lee after he abandons Richmond. The Civil War ends.

• 1863: Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln.

  • Lincoln favoured gradual emancipation of slaves

  • Congress forced Lincoln to abolish slavery

  • He waited to give his speech till the Union was winning the Civil War

  • It allowed black soldiers to enlist and over 180,000 of them joined by the end of the war

• 1863: Battle of Gettysburg (Civil War battle #7 April)

  • Pennsylvania

  • 3-day battle allows General Lee (confederates) to invade the North

  • Union won the battle and it was a turning point for them

• 1865: 13th Amendment

  • Abolish slavery & involuntary servitude in the U.S.

• 1868: 14th Amendment

  • Address citizenship rights and equal protection under law

• 1870: 15th Amendment

  • Prohibits Federal Government & States from denying citizen’s right to vote based on Race, Colour, and previous condition of slavery

The Gilded Age and Industrialization (1870–1900)

• Gilded Age: Satirized as an era of serious social problems hidden under a "thin gold gilding” 

  • Rapid industrialization and economic expansion

    • Heavy industries like railroads, coal mining, and steel production

    • Technological advances modernized factories and farming practices

    • Widespread availability of new inventions (e.g., sewing machine, telephone, typewriter, electric stove)

  • High American wages attracted millions of immigrants, contributing to labor supply and industrial growth

    • immigrants faced poverty, poor living conditions, and exploitation

    • Labor issues included child labor, long work hours, and poor workplace safety

  • Vast wealth disparities, with the richest 1% holding 45% of national wealth by 1900.

  • Philanthropic contributions included building libraries, universities, and hospitals.

  • Wealthy industrialists were seen as either:

    • "Robber barons": Exploited workers, manipulated markets, and crushed competition.

    • "Captains of industry": Praised for innovation, philanthropy, and transforming the U.S. economy.

  • Southern economy remained weak, relying on low-priced cotton and tobacco

    • African Americans in the South faced political disenfranchisement and systemic racism

  • Reform movements pushed for:

    • Child labor laws

    • 8-hour workdays

    • Prohibition

    • Women’s suffrage

• 1869: First Transcontinental Railroad revolutionized travel and trade from NY to SF in 6 days.

• 1874: Major nationwide depression

• 1893: 2nd Major nationwide depression

• 1898: Spanish-American War (U.S. gains Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico).

The Civil Rights Movement (1950s–1960s)

• 1954: Murder of Emmett Till

  • 14-year-old African American boy was brutally murdered (kidnapped, beaten, shot in the head) because he whistled at a white women

  • They found him in a river and his mom had an open casket to bring attention to racial violence especially in the South

  • He was the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement

• 1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott begins.

  • Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Bus.

  • It started a boycott, where they did not ride buses, that lasted 381 days, which hurt the city bus system

  • Led by Martin Luther King Jr., it marked a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement and brought King to national prominence.

• 1957: Little Rock Nine

  • Nine African American students integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

  • Faced violent protests and had to be escorted by federal troops ordered by President Eisenhower.

  • Highlighted resistance to desegregation in the South.

• 1960: Sit-Ins

  • Started in Greensboro, North Carolina, when four African American college students sat at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter.

  • Sparked a wave of nonviolent protests across the country.

  • Led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

  • Lots of them were put in jail but more of them kept going back

• 1963: March on Washington

  • Over 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand civil and economic rights for African Americans.

  • Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, calling for racial equality and an end to discrimination.

  • Played a critical role in gaining support for the Civil Rights Act.

• 1964: Civil Rights Workers Murdered *Mississippi Burning

  • Three civil rights workers—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner—were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer voter registration campaign.

  • Their deaths brought national attention to the dangers faced by activists in the South. 

• 1964: Civil Rights Act passed.

  • Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

  • Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

  • Ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination.

• 1965: Selma to Montgomery March

  • Series of marches demanding voting rights for African Americans.

  • "Bloody Sunday": Peaceful marchers were violently attacked by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

  • Led to national outrage and the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

• 1965: Voting Rights Act passed.

  • Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

  • Prohibited racial discrimination in voting practices.

  • Empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration and elections in areas with a history of discrimination.

• 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated.

  • Assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, while supporting a sanitation workers’ strike.

  • Sparked nationwide riots and mourning.

  • Marked a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement, with increased focus on economic equality.

Colonial America and Revolution (1607–1763)

• John Smith

  • Jamestown leader; survival through diplomacy with Powhatan.

• Ann Putnam

  • Accoused 62 people of witch craft

American Revolution and Founding of the Nation (1763–1789)

• George Washington

  • Commander of the Continental Army

  • First U.S. President

  • Founding Father

• Benjamin Franklin

  • Diplomat

  • Inventor

  • Founding Father

• Thomas Jefferson

  • Main author of the Declaration of Independence

  • Third U.S. President

  • Founding Father

• Alexander Hamilton

  • Author of Federalist Papers

  • First Secretary of the Treasury.

  • Founding Father

• John Adams

  • Advocate for independence

  • Second U.S. President.

  • Founding Father

• James Madison

  • Founding Father

  • “Father of the Constituion”

  • 4th President

  • Author of Federalist Papers

• John Jay

  • Author of Federalist Papers

  • Founding Father

• King George III

  • British monarch during the American Revolution

Mormons

• Joseph Smith

  • Founder of Mormanisum

  • Killed by a mod while awaiting trail for treason

Expansion and Early 19th Century (1800–1860)

• Andrew Jackson

  • Seventh U.S. President

  • Champion of the "common man."

  • Founded the Democratic Party

• Lewis and Clark

  • They went on an expedition and mapped more land

• Eli Whitney

  • Inventor of the cotton gin

• Sacagawea

  • She was a translator for Lewis and Clark

Civil War and Reconstruction (1850–1877)

• Abraham Lincoln

  • 16th U.S. President

  • Issued the Emancipation Proclamation

  • Made slavery illegal

  • Assanated by John Wilks Booth

• John Wilks Booth

  • Murdered Lincoln at Ford Theatre

• Jefferson Davis

  • President of the Confederate States

• Ulysses S. Grant

  • Union general

  • Later 18th U.S. President.

• Robert E. Lee

  • Confederate general

• William Tecumseh Sherman

  • Union General during the Civil War

  • Best know for Shermans March to Sea

• Andrew Johnson

  • Vice President to Lincoln

  • Become 17th president, first president to be impeached

• David Glasgow Farragut

  • Worked with the Union army 

  • Captured New Orleans

• Colonel Shaw

  • Union General

  • Commander of 54th Massachusetts Infantry

Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1870–1920)

• Andrew Carnegie

  • Industrialist and philanthropist

  • Led steel industry growth.

• John D. Rockefeller

  • Founder of Standard Oil

  • Wealthy industrialist.

• Thomas Edison

  • Inventor of the lightbulb and phonograph.

• Cornelius Vanderbilt

  • One of the Largest steamboat operators

  • Helped made railroad transportation more efficient

• Gustavus Swift

  • Invented Railroad cars

  • He was a Philanthropy

• J. P. Morgan

  • He founded one of the most powerful banking houses in the world

• William Randolph Hearst

  • Newspaper Publisher

  • Politican

  • Started the first print-mdia compaines to enter radio broadcasting

  • Was an early pioneer of TV

• Charles Pillsbury

  • Turned a small flour mill into the largest flour-milling company in the world

• Jay Gould

  • Most important railroad developer

Civil Rights Era (1950s–1970s)

• Martin Luther King Jr.

  • Leader of the Civil Rights Movement

  • Black activest

  • “I Have a Dream” speech.

• Rosa Parks

  • Sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give up her seat.

• Malcolm X

  • Advocate for Black empowerment and Nation of Islam leader.

• Emmett Till

  • Brutelly murdered for talking to a white women

• JFK

  • 35th president

  • Proposed the Civil Rights bill to congress

    • It would end segration in school, grant equal access to public facilities, and protect their right to vote