“It was the first time in our nation's history that a President had been assassinated. As cries from citizens rang out, Congress began to think about adding Presidential protection to the list of duties performed by the Secret Service” (Inside the White House) however this would have to wait. “In 1865, up to one-half of all the paper money in America was counterfeit” (About.com: US Government Info) so the idea of a Secret service as a organization dedicated to fixing this problem was put forth. After about three months of getting through the red tape and deciding the duties of this new group, “on July 5, 1865, Congress created the US Secret Service under the Treasury Department -- to stop the counterfeiting” (About.com: US Government Info). The success of this organization was amazing and the Secret Service began to make a name for its self.
Congress played a major role in the Civil War as the Republicans were in control of both chambers.After Election of 1866, the Radicals came into power and impeached president Johnson and controlled the Reconstruction policy. Then in the Election of 1874, Democrats regained control of the House and has continued to dominate the House. As Burns recaptures the long history, I came to learn new information regarding President Nixon’s political career, which was greatly damaged by the Watergate Scandal causing him to resign in 1974. The Watergate reshaped the relations between Congress and other branches and led to increased congressional oversight of federal intelligence agencies. The documentary ends with President Clinton in office for 1992, which caused the shift of balance of power in favor of the Democrats.
Johnson was impeached back in 1868, Pres. Grant permitted congress to do his presidential duties, turning it into more of an administrative position rather than a position of the public. (Bailey) Ever sense then, the politics of the nation have become more controlled by the government and the system rather their president. The depression that occurred in 1893 could not be helped by Pres. Cleveland, he was powerless against congress.
William Howard Taft was nominated by the support of Republicans and the conservative wing. Since Theodore Roosevelt failed to receive the Republican nomination, TR and his supporters formed the Progressive Party, (nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party") so he was chosen as its candidate for President. Eugene V. Debs, knows as a American Union leader and founding member of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World, was a nominee of the Socialist Party. The fourth runner in this election was Woodrow Wilson, supporter of the Democratic Party. He was nominated on the ballot thanks to the support of William Jennings Bryan, a three-time Democratic presidential candidate.
His political party was Republican serving only two terms, as he was assassinated on April 15, 1865. Abraham Lincoln is the most influential President in the United States because he put and kept the union from Civil war, enacted the Homestead Act, and crafted the thirteenth amendment, which ended slavery. Sothern leaders began to threaten about leaving the union, because of Republican plan to end slavery. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, as forces from the
I think that Presidential action was somewhat passive throughout the 1940s and 1950s. In particular Dwight Eisenhower failed to respond to the calls for greater equality as, although he was not actively racist, he was reluctant to lead the country into the next step of improving civil rights. I would say that the responsibility for improving civil rights should fall onto another individual which was Earl Warren. Despite the President calling him the ‘biggest damned-fool I’d ever made’, he was the one that destroyed the legal basis of segregation whilst in his role as Supreme Chief Justice. However, it would not be fair to say that Presidential action was non-existence.
But people still need to recognise we have an institutional responsibility to do oversight on the President” Garry Bass, Congress. This quote supports my view on the Congress being a watchdog. If the Congress is a lapdog, the President can have a free ride on running the country how he wishes and not represent the people’s view. However that is not the case as the President cannot do everything which pleases him. However, looking at the statistics such as Bill Clintons presidency, in the first 2 years which was a united government, Congress exercised limited oversight, and when needed to, asked softball questions, however , when Republicans took over Congress, things got much harder as they seek to hold the President to account, and after a while, impeach.
This was created during a series of joint debates between Illinois senate candidates, Abraham Lincoln and Steven Douglas. Lincoln asked Douglas of his opinion on whether the state’s or Supreme Court’s decree of slavery in each state would prevail. Douglas replied that no matter how the court ruled, slavery would stay down, if the people of that state voted it down. Although Douglas defeated Lincoln for the Senate seat, he experienced an immense loss of support by Southern Democrats, and hurt his chances of winning the presidential election. Because, most of the Democratic party disagreed with his opinion, Douglas not only contributed to his own downfall, but also to the split of the Democratic
Domestic Policies: Bush retained many of Reagan’s cabinet. Collided with the Democrats in Congress over his nomination of former Senator John Tower as secretary of Defense – womanizer, heavy drinker, and brawler; the Senate rejected the cabinet appointment, the first such occasion since 1959. Legislative Agenda: Bush vetoed to keep the Democrats from making too liberal decisions for example raising minimum wage. Resolution Trust Corporation – liquidate the failed Savings and Loans and rescue the still-viable ones – gave $166 billion to close or merge bankrupt savings and loan firms. Treasury gave $500 billion to keep financial markets from being rocked by bad judgment of bankers and politicians.
So the tug-of-war between the president and Congress is a special part (271). The framers had never envisioned that the presidency of the United States of America would become such a democratic office. They were afraid of tyranny and the pressure of the public opinion and made the Electoral College in a way that its members would be chosen in a manner decided by the state legislatures (270). They realized that the instead of letting the people elect the members, the state legislatures would elect the members by themselves. The electors from the states would than elect the country’s president from the leading citizens.