AJ 025 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Spiro Agnew, Article Two Of The United States Constitution

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Administration of Justice (AJ)
• Course: AJ 025
• Professor: shirk

Document Summary

From 1776-1787, states had constitutions that created weak governships, with short terms of office and few powers. After revolution, u. s felt the need for a strong executive. Framers created unprecedented electoral college system, based on theory that states would select as electors their most qualified citizens, who would exercise their best judgment in selecting president. President needs 270 electoral votes to win; in a tie, house votes on one of the 2; when no one reaches 270, house decides among top 5 finishers in electoral. President must be natural-born citizen, 35 years old, and must be resident of u. s for 14 years (article ii, section 2) No person can serve as vp who is not qualified to be president. Originally, candidate with the second-most electoral votes became vp. Before political parties, this system worked well; in 1796, john adams (federalist) won presidency, with thomas jefferson (democratic-republican) as his vp, creating a divided executive branch.