 | Article Two of the United States Constitution: Encyclopedia II - Article Two of the United States Constitution - Section 1: President and Vice President
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Section 1: President and Vice President
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 1: Vesting and term
Section One provides that the executive power is vested in the President who may be chosen for a four-year term.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:[…]
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 2: Method of choosing electors
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The President and Vice President are chosen by Electors chosen as the state legislatures direct. Each state legislature may choose as many Electors as Representatives and Senators represented it in Congress. (Under the Twenty-third Amendment, the District of Columbia may also choose Electors.) No Senators, Representatives or federal officers may become Electors.
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 3: Electoral college voting
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not lie an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice-President.
(Note: This entire clause was replaced (albeit implicitly) by the Twelfth Amendment in 1804.)
After they are appointed (in modern practice, by popular election), the electors meet in their respective states to cast ballots for the President and Vice President. Originally, the Electors each cast two votes for President; at least one of the individuals voted for had to be from a state different from the Elector's. The individual with the greatest number of votes (if such a number represented a majority of electors) became President, and the runner-up became Vice President. In case of a tie, the House of Representatives could choose one of the candidates; if no person received a majority, then the House could again choose from amongst the five with the greatest number of votes. When the House voted, each state delegation cast one vote, and the vote of a majority of states was necessary to choose a President. If second-place candidates were tied, then the Senate broke the tie. A quorum of two-thirds applied in both Houses: at least one member from each of two-thirds of the states in the House of Representatives, and at least two-thirds of the Senators in the Senate.
The Twelfth Amendment introduced a number of key changes to the procedure. Now, Electors do not cast two votes for President; rather, they cast one vote for President and another for Vice President. In case no Presidential candidate receives a majority, the House chooses from amongst the top three (not five, as was earlier the case). The Senate still chooses from those with the two highest figures in case Vice Presidential candidates have equal numbers of electoral votes.
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 4: Election day
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
The Congress sets a national election day. Currently, Electors are chosen on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, in the year before the President's term is to expire. The Electors cast their votes on the Monday following the second Wednesday in December of that same year. Thereafter, the votes are opened and counted by the Vice President, as President of the Senate, in a joint session of Congress.
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 5: Qualifications for office
No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
By the time of their inauguration, the President and Vice President must be:
- natural born citizens (or citizens at the time of the Constitution's adoption) and
- thirty-five years old
- inhabitants for at least fourteen years of the United States.
The Twenty-second Amendment also prevents a President from being elected more than twice.
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 6: Vacancy and Disability
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
If the President's office becomes vacant due to death, resignation or disqualification, the Vice President becomes President. The Congress may provide for a line of succession beyond the Vice President; currently, it includes the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate and then Cabinet Secretaries.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment explicitly states that when the Presidency is vacant, then the Vice President becomes President. In case of a Vice Presidential vacancy, the Amendment permits the President to appoint, with the approval of both Houses of Congress a new Vice President. Furthermore, the Amendment provides that when the Vice President and Cabinet declare the President unable to discharge his duties, the Vice President becomes Acting President. The Amendment permits the President to take control back unless two-thirds of both Houses vote to sustain the findings of the Vice President and Cabinet.
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 7: Salary
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
The President's salary must be constant during his term and he cannot receive other compensation. Presumably, this also applies to the Vice President.
Article Two of the United States Constitution - Clause 8: Oath or Affirmation
"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:
"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."
By convention established by George Washington, the President adds the words "so help me God" at the conclusion of the oath. Normally, the Chief Justice of the United States administers the oath. It is sometimes asserted that the oath bestows upon the President the power to do whatever is necessary to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution." Andrew Jackson, while vetoing an Act for the renewal of the charter of the national bank, implied that the President could refuse to execute statutes that he felt were unconstitutional. In suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, President Abraham Lincoln claimed that he acted in accordance with the oath. Finally, Andrew Johnson's counsel referred to the theory during his impeachment trial. Otherwise, few have seriously asserted that the oath augments the President's powers.
The Vice President also has an oath of office, but it is not mandated by the Constitution and it is prescribed by statute.
Other related archives2005 appointment of John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Article One, Cabinet, Chief Justice of the United States, Denmark, District of Columbia, Electors, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Pierce, George Washington, Impeachment in the United States, Jimmy Carter, Marbury v. Madison, Myers v. United States, President, President of the Senate, Reconstruction, Republic of China, Secretary of State, Speech from the Throne, State of the Union, Tenure of Office Act, Thomas Jefferson, Twelfth Amendment, Twenty-fifth Amendment, Twenty-second Amendment, Twenty-third Amendment, United States Constitution, Woodrow Wilson, declare war, executive branch, executive privilege, government, impeachment, inauguration, joint session of Congress, line of succession, writ of habeas corpus, writ of mandamus, writ of quo warranto
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Section 1: President and Vice President", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
