Congress and the Presidency Review Sheet

U.S. Government

Congress

  1. Purpose of Congressional committees
  2. What is a congressional “session”?
  3. House of Representatives – term of service, size of body, type of representation
  4. Who holds most seats in Congress?
  5. Difference between expressed and implied powers
  6. Necessary and Proper Clause
  7. Immunity of members of Congress while on the floor
  8. Who gets to be committee chairpersons?
  9. Conference or Joint committees
  10. Filibusters and how to end them
  11. Incumbency advantages and disadvantages
  12. Where most bills die
  13. “Constituency vs. Conscience” (Democracy in America)

 

The President

  1. Commander-in-chief powers
  2. Office of the President
  3. Roles of the President
  4. White House Staff
  5. “The Bully Pulpit” (Democracy in America)
  6. “The Johnson Treatment” (Democracy in America)

 

Essay Topic

 

  1. Watergate exposed corruption within the government, but also proved the effectiveness of checks and balances.

 

(a).  Discuss one example of corruption in the Watergate Scandal.  (HINT:  Give short background of Watergate, and deal with one example of corruption in your intro.  Outline the next topics in the intro as well, and then deal with them in their own body paragraphs)

(b).  Discuss ONE examples of how spin and packaging were used to attempt to cover up the scandal.

(c).   Discuss ONE example of how presidential power was used to cover up the scandal.

(d).  Discuss TWO examples how checks and balances operated to expose the corruption you mentioned in Part A.