Government and Politics – English Across the Curriculum https://topics.english-online.at Now you can purchase many of the topics as downloadable PDF units for classroom use. Preview the full contents of the PDF modules before you buy. Take a look at our webshop. Wed, 13 Mar 2024 06:12:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 The United Nations https://topics.english-online.at/the-united-nations/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 04:27:40 +0000 https://topics.english-online.at/?p=1217 Introduction

The United Nations is an international organisation of countries. It was created for many reasons:

  • There should be peace and security in the world after the Second World War.
  • Countries should be friendly to each other.
  • Countries should help each other solve problems.
  • Human rights should be respected everywhere in the world.

After the Second World War the allied countries got together to discuss in which ways such an organization could be created. In 1945 50 countries got together in San Francisco and signed an agreement that created the United Nations. The United States invited the new UN to set up its headquarters in New York. The building was finished in 1952 and has been the permanent seat of the UN until today.

UN headquarters in New York
Image: I, Padraic Ryan, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Membership

Membership is open to all peace-loving nations. Today there are 193 countries in the UN – there are two members that are observers : the Vatican and Palestine.

Switzerland joined the UN in 2002 because the Swiss always wanted to be neutral.

UN member states – Date of membership
Image: (modified) PuebloUnited and Chanheigeorge,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Main Organs of the UN

There are 5 main organs in the UN :

  • The General Assembly
  • The Security Council
  • The Secretariat
  • The International Court of Justice
  • The Economic and Social Council

All countries get together in the General Assembly. It normally meets once a year, but it doesn’t have any real power. It discusses problems and recommends ways to solve them. In the General Assembly each country has one vote.

The Security Council is the main body of the UN. It gets together almost every day and it has the most power. Member countries must do what the Security Council decides. There are 15 members in this council – five of them are permanent : The United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain. These countries have a right to veto anything. The other 10 members change all the time. They stay in the Security Council for 2 years.

The Security Council makes very important decisions and all the countries have to obey them. It tries to keep peace in the world and also tries to solve conflicts that endanger world peace. It also sends peacekeepers to countries where there is trouble.

The Secretary General has a lot of power in the UN. He is the highest official and is elected for five years by the General Assembly. He often travels around the world to settle conflicts between countries. At present, António Guterres is Secretary General of the UN. He was elected in 2017 and comes from Portugal .

The World Court makes decisions when two countries argue about something. It has independent judges that are elected by the UN.

Meeting room of the Security Council in New York
Image: Per Krohg, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

António Guterres
Image:European Commission (Christophe Licoppe), Attribution,
via Wikimedia Commons

Other Organisations and Agencies

The United Nations also have many other organisations The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) tries to find out if countries have atomic weapons. Its seat is in Vienna. The World Health Organisation is a UN programme to help control diseases all over the world. UNICEF is an organisation to help children in need in poor countries.

The United Nations needs a lot of money to keep up all of these organisations and programmes. It gets most of its money from the world’s rich countries like the United States (about 25 %), Japan, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy. A lot of the money is used for peacekeeping missions.

In the past few years—after the end of the Cold War—the United Nations have played a more important role in the world. In 1991, the UN voted to take action against Iraq, which invaded Kuwait. But if important countries do not agree in the Security Council, like in the Iraq War of 2003, the United Nations cannot do very much to prevent conflicts.

Australian peacekeepers in East Timor, Indonesia
Image: Geoffrey C. Gunn, CC BY 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

UN Peacekeepers

The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces are groups of soldiers who help keep peace in places of conflict. Most of the time they are observers or soldiers who don’t have so many weapons. Normally, they try to keep the enemies away from each other.

The first UN peacekeepers were sent to the Middle East in 1948 after the first war between Israel and its neighbours. After many weeks of war the UN peacekeepers were able to help make peace. Since then UN soldiers have helped patrol borders between Israel and Syria.

UN soldiers have also helped in Cyprus—a small island in the Mediterranean Sea that has mostly Greek people, but the northern part is settled by Turks. UN peacekeepers control a border that divides the north and the south of the island.

In the 1980s and 90s UN peacekeepers have helped keep peace in many countries. In the middle of the 1990s they were sent to former Yugoslavia to keep peace between the Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

UN peacekeepers are sent to a region only if the Security Council tells them to. They can only help keep peace if all the other countries agree and they may use their weapons only if they are attacked. Most of them wear a blue hat or a helmet so that you can tell if they are UN soldiers.

Since 1948 there have been 54 UN peacekeeping operations all over the world. Over 120 countries have sent soldiers.

UN peacekeeping missions

Achievements

In the 75 years of its existence , the United Nations have achieved a number of things . Here are some of them:

  • The UN has helped many countries become democratic and peaceful states.
  • The UN plays an important role in protecting our environment. The “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 was a big conference about climate control and other problems of our environment.
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency is a UN organisation that controls the nuclear weapons of countries and sees to it that they don’t build an atomic bomb.
  • Since 1950, the UN has given help to over 50 million refugees. These people had to leave their countries because of war, hunger or diseases.
  • Africa is the poorest continent in our world. The UN has given African countries money and other kinds of help so that they can feed people and give them safe and clean water.
  • UNICEF helps children who live in poverty and protects their rights.
  • The FAO helps farmers develop ways of growing food in poor countries, so that millions of people have enough to eat.

UN aid workers help refugees
Image: Robert Palomares, U.S. Navy, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

UNICEF worker helps children in Central Africa
Image: Norwegian, CC BY 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Videos

Exercises

Printable Downloads (PDF)

]]> OPEC – The World’s Oil Cartel https://topics.english-online.at/opec-the-worlds-oil-cartel/ Sun, 28 Jan 2024 16:31:17 +0000 https://topics.english-online.at/?p=910 OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It was founded in Bagdad in 1960 and has currently 12 members. OPEC’s aim is to regulate the amount of oil that member nations produce and to keep prices at a steady rate. The countries get together twice a year and agree on how much oil each country is allowed to produce. OPEC’s headquarters are in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

Before OPEC was created, there were large oil companies that controlled the world’s oil production. They wanted to sell as much oil as possible and did not let governments influence their decisions. Oil-rich countries, especially in the Middle East, wanted more control over the oil that they produced. As a result, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela founded OPEC. In the following years several other oil-producing nations , became members.

In the 1960s, OPEC did not have much power. This changed in 1973 when the third Arab-Israeli war started. The United States and a few European countries supported Israel. As a form of punishment, OPEC nations, influenced by the Arab countries, stopped selling oil to the West. Within the next six years oil prices rose to ten times the price of the early 1970s. OPEC countries became rich with so-called petrodollars; the West sank into deep recession because they needed OPEC’s oil.

Gas station in the United States during the 1973 energy crisis – Pumps closed on an interstate highway
Image: National Archives at College Park,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In the aftermath of the energy crisis of the 1970s, western countries started looking for alternative forms of energy in order to become more independent from OPEC and the oil-producing nations. In 1986, oil prices dropped to the lowest rate in history. Oil-producing nations lost much of their income. In the 80s and 90s OPEC’s power diminished, often because of conflicts and internal arguments and because member states could not agree on production quotas. Some OPEC countries did not keep agreements and produced more oil, thus lowering prices.

After 2000, oil prices began to rise again and reached an all-time high in 2007. The financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 hit world economy hard and oil prices fell once again. Since the Arab Spring of 2011, prices have gone up and down several times.

In 2016, at a time when oil prices were low OPEC+ was created, enlarging the cartel with other oil-producing countries, including Mexico, Brazil and Russia. Together, OPEC+ controls about 90% of the world’s oil reserves. Saudi Arabia is the most powerful member of the group, because it has the largest reserves. Even though there have been quarrels in the cartel in the last 6 decades it remains a powerful organization.

OPEC and OPEC+ members
Image: Caspian Delta, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Exercises

]]> The European Union https://topics.english-online.at/the-european-union/ Mon, 22 Jan 2024 04:27:05 +0000 https://topics.english-online.at/?p=462 Introduction

The European Union is a post – World War II project designed to secure peace in Europe. It was founded as the European Community for Coal and Steel in 1953 and became the European Economic Community through the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The EC has expanded many times in the last 60 years.

In 2016, the the citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the first time any member state has done this.

The European Union and the rest of Europe
Image: M.Bitton, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

History

The European Union is an organization of 28 nations. Its original aim was to form an economic union but, as time went on, the EU developed into a far greater organization.

Today the EU is developing into a political union, trying to bring together the democratic countries of Europe. It is the biggest trading bloc in the world, has more people than the United States and exports and imports more goods than any other country in the world.

After World War II

World War II caused a great deal of damage in Europe. After the war European leaders believed they had to work together to prevent another devastating conflict.

In 1952 the European Coal and Steel Community was founded by six nations: France, Italy, West Germany and the Benelux countries. Its aim was to control coal production and the steel industries of the member states, so that one single state could not build up a powerful industry without the others knowing about it.

Robert Schuman – one of the founding fathers of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-19000-2453 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
[CC BY-SA 3.0 de (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)]

The European Economic Community

The success of the ECSC made the leaders of the six countries cooperate even further. In 1957 two more organisations were founded in Rome. The European Economic Community (EEC) established a free trade zone in which goods and services could move freely between countries. The European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) was designed to have countries cooperate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

In 1967 the three organisations were combined to form the European Communities (EC) .

Enlargement of the EU

The 1970s and 80s led to the enlargement of the EC. Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland joined in 1973, Greece became a member in 1981, and Spain and Portugal joined the community in 1986. At the end of the 1980s communism collapsed in many eastern European countries. In 1990 a united Germany became the largest country in the community.

East and West Germans at Brandenburg Gate in 1989
Image: Lear 21 at English Wikipedia,
CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the 1990s EC leaders started to seek greater cooperation in other fields. In 1991 the Maastricht Treaty was signed. Member states vowed to create a political union and introduce a single currency, the euro, which replaced the currency of 12 European countries in 2002.

In 1995 Austria, Sweden and Finland enlarged the European Union to 15 countries.

In the early years of the new millennium leaders of the EU started working on a constitution for all member states. They finished and approved it in 2004 but citizens in France and the Netherlands rejected it in national referendums.

The biggest enlargement took place in 2004. Ten new countries of central, eastern and southern Europe entered the EU: Cyprus, Malta, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Romania and Bulgaria became members three years later. In 2013 Croatia became the last country to join the EU.

One and a half decades after the fall of the Iron Curtain the division of Europe had been overcome.

Enlargement of the European Union
Image: Kolja21, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Institutions and Organs

The heads of state or government get together at least twice a year. They set the goals and rules of the community and discuss plans for the future. Every six months a different country serves as president of the union.

European Council Meeting in 2011
Source : https://www.flickr.com/photos/minister-president/5555966067/in/set-72157626347814212/
Author : Prime Minister of the Netherlands

The Council of Ministers is the lawmaking part of the EU. It is made up of one representative from each of the member nations. The council decides how laws are made and agreements carried out. Most of the decisions that are reached here are unanimous.

Council of Ministers at the Europa Building in Brussels
Image: EU2017EE Estonian Presidency
[CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

The European Commission is the executive branch of the EU. It is responsible for planning new laws and suggesting them to the Council of Ministers and parliament.

The commission makes sure that treaties of the union are carried out and rules are followed. There are 27 commissioners, one from each member state. Each of them is responsible for a certain area, like the environment, energy, transportation or farming.

They serve 5 year terms and must be approved by parliament. The president of the commission is thought to be the most important official of the European Union.

President of the European Commission : Ursula von der Leyen
Image: Etienne Ansotte, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

It is the only body of the EU that is elected directly by the people of the member countries. Every five years citizens in all member states elect a total of 785 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament). Countries with a large population like Germany, Italy, and France have more MEPs, smaller countries like Luxembourg have few MEPs. European Parliament is different from other parliaments because it cannot pass laws. It discusses the suggestions of the Commission and the Council of Ministers, but it must be heard by the lawmaking organs. The Parliament has the strongest powers in budget and money matters.

European parliament in session in Strasbourg
Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

The ECJ runs the courts of the EU. It is located in Luxembourg and is made up of 28 judges who decide if the actions of the Commission, member states or private citizens comply with the rules of the EU. The court’s decisions are final and everyone, including governments, must follow them.

European Court of Justice building in Luxembourg
Image: commons.wikimedia.org

The European Central Bank controls the amount of money in the euro zone and tries to keep the euro a strong currency. The ECB was founded in 1998, its headquarters is in Frankfurt, Germany.

European Central Bank in Frankfurt
Image : Oliver Wendel c_ow, CC0,
via Wikimedia Commons

The Euro

On January 1, 2002 the euro became the single currency of 12 member states of the European Union. Next to the US dollar it has become the most important currency in the world.


There are seven bank notes ranging from the smallest, 5 euros, to the largest, 500 euros. The design competition was won by the Austrian Robert Kalina. The eight coins, ranging in value from 1 cent to 2 euros have different sizes and shapes so that you can better tell them apart. One side of the coin is the same in all member states, the other side has specific national symbols on them and designs that are different in each country.

Currently there are twenty countries in the euro zone: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Cyprus. Small countries like Monaco, the Vatican, San Marino and Andorra also use the euro as a form of payment.

The first series of Euro banknotes
Image: Bericht, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Countries of the Eurozone (Kosovo and Monenegro use the euro as their official currency
but are not part of the Eurozone)
Image: Alphathon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Advantages of the euro

Many experts have argued over the past years that a single currency can help member states move closer together and unify the EU. But there are also other positive sides of a single currency:

  • Businesses that traded with other EU countries were often not sure how much they had to pay in foreign currencies because the exchange rates often changed.
  • Consumers can compare prices in different EU countries more easily.
  • Tourists who cross borders on their way to holiday destinations no longer have to exchange their money.
  • Through the euro, trade between countries has increased.
  • Making payments to banks in other countries has become easier.
  • The European Central Bank controls the amount of money in each country. The value of the euro is always the same , inflation is very low.

Problems and Challenges in the Eurozone

Throughout the years there have been some challenges and problems within the Eurozone.

  • Many people argue that the euro has made living more expensive in various countries. Prices have gone up.
  • The financial crisis of 2008 led to economic problems in some EU countries. Hardest hit was Greece, which suffered a severe recession and received financial support from the EU
  • Some nations including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark have chosen not to introduce the single currency, because they fear it would weaken their independence and they would lose power in their own country.

Turkey and the European Union

More than 40 years ago Turkey started cooperating with the EEC. In October 2005 the country began official talks on becoming a full member. However, in contrast to other countries that have joined the EU over the past years, Turkish membership brings along many problems.

Inside the EU many arguments can be heard against a full Turkish membership:

  • Turkey belongs to Asia not to Europe.
  • Thousands of Turkish immigrants will spread to Europe.
  • Turkey is too big and will have too much power in the EU.
  • Turkey is too poor and will cost the EU too much.

Others say that Turkey will have positive effects on the union.

  • The country will help bring together the western Christian and the Muslim world.
  • Turkey may help to make the Middle East more stable and peaceful.
  • Turkey is a member of NATO. It could give Europe more military power.
  • Europe’s population is getting older an older. Young Turkish workers may help Europe’s economy.
  • The EU can do business with a large market of over 70 million people.

Problems blocking Turkish membership

One of the problems that is blocking Turkey’s membership is Cyprus. The southern part of the divided island is a member of the EU and has a Greek population. The northern part is under Turkish influence.

The EU says that Turkey must recognise Cyprus as an independent country. It also must open up its harbours and airports to Cyprus.

The Kurds are another problem that Turkey has. They make up about 20% of the country’s population, but they don’t have their own country and the Turkish government has been oppressing them for decades.

The EU has stated that Turkey will not become a member unless it improves human rights. In the end, it could take many years for Turkey to become a full member of the EU , but there are many who want Turkey to stay out of the European club.

United Nations peacekeepers in Cyprus
Image : Thaizacastilho, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Brexit – The UK leaves the European Union

Brexit is a short word for British Exit. 43 years after becoming a member of the EEC Great Britain decided to leave the EU. On June 23rd 2016 a referendum took place to decide whether Britain should stay in the EU or leave the community. A slight majority of 51.9% decided that it was better for the country to leave, while 48.1% thought that remaining a part of the EU was right. A total of 30 million people (almost 72% of the population) took part in the referendum.

After Article 50 of the EU charter was triggered , the United Kingdom was set to leave the EU on March 29th 2019. However, British Parliament couldn’t find a way to agree on the withdrawal treaty that the government negotiated with the EU. In April 2019, EU heads of state agreed to grant the UK an extension until October 31, 2019

In summer 2019 Theresa May resigned as Prime Minister and Boris Johnson became head of the government. But he, too, found it impossible to get a majority of votes in British Parliament to pass Brexit. After winning the general election in December 2019, Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party finally got the votes to pass the withdrawal agreement.

On January 31, 2020 the United Kingdom officially left the European Union.

Arguments for Leaving

  • Britain would no longer have to pay money into the EU budget.
  • Britain can become more independent and can negotiate its own trade deals
  • It would also be allowed to pass its own laws without having to implement EU rules.
  • Immigration can be better controlled. Especially citizens from eastern European countries would not automatically be allowed to work and live in the UK.

Arguments for Remaining

  • Britain can trade freely with other EU countries.
  • Open borders means free movement of goods, people, services and money.
  • London could lose its status as one of Europe’s most important financial hubs.
  • There would be a hard border between the UK and Ireland.
  • Economists warn that leaving the EU would be an economic disaster.

Hard and Soft Brexit

A hard Brexit means leaving the single market and the customs union. Britain would take over control of its borders . It could make its own laws on jobs and employment, as well as negotiate its own trade deals with countries outside the EU. A hard Brexit also means a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which remains a part of the UK. This is a state neither the British government nor the EU wants.

In a softer Brexit, Britain would still have some kind of access to the EU market. The country would have to make it easier for EU immigrants to work in Britain. Staying in the customs union only would allow free movement of goods but not free movement of people. In most cases Britain would have to follow EU trade rules. There would be no border between Ireland and the UK.

Border between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Irish Republic
Image: Oliver Dixon / The Border on Killeen School Road / CC BY-SA 2.0

Videos

Exercises

Writing Tasks

Europe’s Youth , a magazine for 15 to 19-year-olds wants to find out what teenagers think about being a European. The best articles will be published in the next edition.

You have decided to take part and send in an article . In your article you should

  • explain what being a European means to you.
  • give your opinion on why people are critical of the EU.
  • state why or why not joining the EU was a good idea.

Write an article of 300 – 400 words . Give your article a title !

As a young citizen, you are worried about many things at the moment. Write an email to your MEP (Member of the European Parliament) in which you

  • describe what problems you and other young people face.
  • suggest what the EU can do to help.
  • outline what the future role of the European Union should be.

Write about 250 words.

You have just come across this blog on Brexit:

You decide to comment on this blog entry. In your comment you should

  • ask the writer why he/she thinks Britain is better off without the EU.
  • emphasize the positive aspects of being in the EU.
  • suggest ways in which Europe and Britain should still cooperate.

Write about 250 – 300 words.

From what you have read in this course and the videos you have seen write a summary of the history of the European Union.

Do not write more than 300 words and include the most important facts and events.

Young people meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
Image :European Parliament from EU, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Printable Downloads – PDF

]]> The American President https://topics.english-online.at/the-american-president/ Fri, 19 Jan 2024 13:22:35 +0000 https://topics.english-online.at/?p=393 Introduction

The President of the United States is probably the most powerful leader of the world. He has many duties, like signing bills and commanding the armed forces. The president’s advisors get together in the Cabinet.

Congress and the Supreme Court control the president and his decisions.

America has had great presidents: George Washington, the first president of the newly formed United States, Abraham Lincoln who abolished slavery, Franklin D. Roosevelt who led America through World War II or John F. Kennedy , a popular president who was assassinated in Dallas.

A presidential election is held every four years. Americans do not choose their president directly . Instead, they vote for electors who get together in the Electoral College.

Official Seal of the American President
Image : See page for author, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Jobs and Duties of a President

The President of the United States must lead a strong nation and make sure that laws are put into effect . He is the commander of the army and can send American soldiers to war. The President also decides which relationships America has with other countries. He is the Head of State and meets with leaders of other nations.

To become president a person

  • must be at least 35 years old
  • must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years
  • must be born in the United States

A president serves his country for four years. He can also be elected a second time. Until 1951, US presidents were able to hold office for more than eight years. Franklin D. Roosevelt , for example, was elected four times and was president from 1933-1945.

If Congress finds out that a president has done something wrong he can be removed from the White House .

A President’s Job

The President is the head of the executive branch of government. When the Senate and the House of Representatives want a new law to be passed , they send a bill to the President. If he agrees , he signs the bill and it becomes a law .

However, if the President does not like it he doesn’t have to sign it. This is called a veto. The bill goes back to Congress and if two thirds of all members vote against the veto it becomes a law .

The Cabinet

The President does not rule the country alone. The Cabinet is a group of people who get together and give the President information on many things. The President himself chooses them and they meet at least once a week. They are experts in many fields like defence , the environment , education and others.

President Obama in a Cabinet meeting
Image source: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/cabinet

Life of an American President

An American President is always busy. He has several conferences and meets up to a hundred or more people every day.

The President lives in the White House in Washington,D.C. Most of the time he does his work in the Oval Office. There, he meets his helpers, leaders from other countries and other people. Presidents often spend their weekends at Camp David, a retreat in the Maryland mountains. There they relax, play golf, go riding and fishing and have time for their families.

The Secret Service protects the American President around the clock. It checks food and the hotels in which a President stays and plans his trips and journeys.

A President travels across the country or abroad in his own plane – Air Force One. It is a Boeing 747 in which he can work and live as he does in the White House.

Even though presidents are closely protected some of them were killed in office. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 when he was at a theatre performance. John F. Kennedy was murdered on the streets of Dallas, Texas in 1963.

 

Joe Biden in the Oval Office
Image : The White House, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Air Force One
Image : redlegsfan21, CC BY-SA 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

How the American Government Works

The legislative branch makes laws for the country. This is done in Congress, which is made up of two parts. The House of Representatives has 435 members. Small states have only a few members and big states, like California or New York have many representatives. The Senate has 100 senators, two from each state. Members of Congress are elected every two years.

The executive branch makes sure that people follow the laws that the legislative branch makes. The leaders of this branch are the President and his Vice President. They are elected by the people every four years.

When people are not sure about the meaning of a law, the judicial branch listens to the opinions and makes a decision. It is made up of courts. The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest in the country. 9 judges , who are appointed by the President, meet in a building in Washington D.C.

How the American government works

Road to the White House

Primaries

There are many people who would like to become President. From January to June of the election year, the two big parties, Republicans and Democrats, hold primaries in many states. In these primaries, people decide who should become the party’s candidate for the presidential election in November.

Conventions

At the end of the primaries, each party organizes a big party called a convention. Thousands of party members meet and select the candidate who did best in the primaries. At the convention, the candidate also tells the people who will become Vice President if he or she gets elected .

General Election

From August to November the candidates of each party travel all over the country, hold speeches and try to get the people to vote for them. On the first Tuesday in November the American people vote for one of the presidential candidates .

In most cases, there are only two candidates, a Republican and a Democrat, but in the last elections candidates from other parties have taken part in the election.

Electoral College

Americans do not vote for the President directly. They select electors who represent them in the electoral college .

Each state has a certain number of electors. Big states with a large population, like California have many electors (55) and small states, like Hawaii only have a few electors. All together there are 538 electors who get together in the Electoral College.

In December all the electors meet and elect a president. Most of the time they vote for the candidate who has won in their state. The candidate who has 270 or more electoral votes becomes President .

Candidates often concentrate on the big states with lots of electors. They know that if they win in states like California, New York or Texas they have a good chance of becoming President.

Number of electors of each state in the Electoral College
Image:Original: Cg-realmsDerivative work: Ali Zifan / Public domain

Inauguration

On January 20th of the following year the new President and his Vice President begin the new term . They put their left hand on a Bible and take an oath .

The Electoral College System

The Americans do not elect their president directly. They vote for an elector – a representative who must vote for the same candidate. There are 538 electors. Together, they are called the Electoral College. Each state has as many electors as it has members in Congress . There are 435 representatives in the House, based on the number of inhabitants each state has, and one hundred Senators, two from each state. There are three additional electors from the District of Columbia .

On Election Day voters go to the polls to choose the electors in their state; however they only see the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates . When they vote for a candidate of a party they actually vote for an elector of that state. This is called the popular vote.

In almost all of the states the candidate who receives the most popular votes wins all that state’s electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 votes to win the election . Even though the winner of the election is known by the following morning he or she is officially elected president in December when the electors meet.

Problems of the Electoral College

Many people don’t agree with the way the Americans elect their president. They think it’s wrong for the winning candidate to get all the electoral votes of a state and the loser none. That’s why it is possible for a candidate to receive fewer votes from the people and still win the election by winning the “big” states. This happened last in 2016, when the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton got three million popular votes more than Donald Trump, but lost the Electoral College by 227 to 304.

Others criticize that candidates concentrate their campaign on the big states, like California, New York, Texas, Florida and others because they have the most electors. Smaller states or those in which a candidate feels safe may get less attention in the campaign .

Those who are in favour of keeping the system say that smaller states are better represented because they have more electors.

History of the Electoral College

The voting system in America goes back to the days of the founding fathers who wrote the first constitution . They did not want the people to vote directly for the president. Because there was no radio and TV they thought that it was too hard for the people to get information about a candidate .

At first, electors could vote for whoever they wanted to, but then political parties became stronger and they had a growing influence on the electors.

The 2020 Presidential Election

In the 2020 election Donald Trump ran for a second term against former Vice President Joe Biden. After Biden had beaten Trump in the Electoral College vote, he refused to admit he had lost. Instead, the President challenged the results in many states. He went to court and claimed that there was fraud in the states that he had lost.

On December 14, 2020 the Electoral College confirmed that Joe Biden had won the election. He received 306 electoral votes compared to 232 for Trump.

The former president continued to state that the election was rigged and many of his supporters believed him. After Trump held a speech near the White House on January 6, 2021 hundreds of supporters stormed the Capitol, where Congress was counting electoral votes and confirming election results. Many Trump supporters were arrested and one person was even killed.

In 2022 Trump announced that he wanted to run for President again. In the following year he was charged with a series of crimes, including plans to overturn the election and remain in power, as well as keeping secret documents in his private home. The first trials are scheduled to take place in early 2024.

Protesters attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021
Image: Tyler Merbler from USA, CC BY 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Famous Presidents

George Washington – America’s First President

George Washington – America’s first president
Source : Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, Public Domain

George Washington is best known as America’s first president. But he was much more than that. He fought against and defeated the British army in the War of Independence (1775 – 1783) and he helped to write the American constitution.

As a boy, Washington had an exciting life. He worked on his parents’ plantation and learned how to plant tobacco and grow crops. He also loved to explore the wilderness, hunt for food and sleep in the open.

At an early age Washington became a surveyor and helped new settlers buy land. When he grew older he became a soldier and fought with the British against the French and the Indians.

When Great Britain started to collect more and more taxes from the settlers war broke out between the American colonists and British soldiers. George Washington became commander of the American army.

Washington had many problems during the war. The British had more soldiers and weapons. Winters were cold and long. Many soldiers left him and his troops didn’t have enough clothes.

When Washington surprised the British army at Yorktown, Virginia almost 8,000 British soldiers gave up. The British king started to lose interest in the colonies and in 1783 the war ended. Washington and his soldiers had won America’s independence.

In the following years George Washington and many other leaders helped to write a constitution for the new country. In 1789 , Washington was elected as the country’s first president. Nobody was against him. He didn’t want a second term but his friends convinced him that he was the best person for his country. In 1797, at the age of 65, Washington went back home to his farm. He died on December 14, 1799.

No other American has become more famous than George Washington. The nation’s capitol was named after him. Many towns, streets, lakes and parks have his name. Even a state is called Washington. His portrait is on stamps and the one dollar bill.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln – 16th president of the USA
Image: Alexander Gardner, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents in American history. He helped end slavery and stopped America from breaking apart in the Civil War (1861 – 1865). He was also the first president to be murdered in office.

Lincoln grew up in Kentucky in the early 19th century. During his childhood his family moved to Indiana and then to Illinois. As a young man, Lincoln was tall and thin. He had dark skin and his hair was black. He did all kinds of work, like cutting wood or ploughing the fields and growing corn.

In Illinois, Abe started to get interested in politics. He was a great speaker and people liked to listen to him. Lincoln started studying law and became a successful lawyer.

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln won the presidential elections for the Republican party. It was a time of crisis in America. Slavery was a big problem. The Southern states needed slaves to work on their big farms and the people in the North were against slavery.

In 1861 the American Civil War started. The Southern states broke away from the North and formed their own army. It became the bloodiest war in American history.

On January 1st 1863, Lincoln declared that all slaves in America were free. But nothing really changed for them. They kept on working for white landowners in the Southern states for the next decades.

As the war went on, the Northerners won many battles – the most famous one was at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On April 9th 1865 the South gave up and the war was over.Five days later Lincoln attended a theatre performance in Washington. Shortly after 10 o’clock he was shot in the head by John Booth, a famous actor. Lincoln died a few hours later.

Many people say that Lincoln was America’s most important president. He ended slavery and helped America stay one country.

Franklin D. Roosevelt – The Wartime President

Franklin D. Roosevelt in his wheelchair in 1941
Image : Margaret Suckley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only president who was elected four times and he served his country for 12 years. He died 83 days after he started his fourth term.

As a young man Roosevelt became crippled by polio. He could not stand or move his legs. His muscles were also damaged and he spent most of his life in a wheelchair. When many people thought that this illness would end his political career, Roosevelt became President for the first time in 1933.

At that time, America suffered from bad depression. Many people had lost their jobs and families didn’t have enough to eat. Roosevelt started a new programme called the New Deal. The government spent lots of money to create new jobs – it built roads, bridges, new schools and did other important things to help the population.

America’s people saw that FDR could do a lot for his country and they elected him for a second time in 1936.

When Roosevelt started his third term in office in 1941, Europe was at war. At first, he wanted America to stay out of World War II but when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, the USA declared war on Japan and Germany.

Roosevelt’s health was already very bad when he started his fourth term in January 1945. He met with the leaders of Great Britain and Russia, Churchill and Stalin, at Yalta . There the three leaders planned the final attacks on Germany and talked about how they would divide the country after the war. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945.

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy – America’s first Roman Catholic president
Image: Cecil Stoughton, White House,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

John F. Kennedy was the youngest man who has ever been elected President of the United States. His term ended after two years and ten months when he was shot to death in Dallas, Texas.

Kennedy came from an Irish family that left Ireland during the 1840’s . In America the Kennedys became rich and JFK’s father was a politician and millionaire. After John had studied politics at Harvard University he joined the US Navy and was commander of a boat during World War II. He became a war hero and was honoured because he rescued the crew of his boat when it was bombed by Japanese airplanes.

In the 1940s Kennedy’s political career began. He became a member of the House of Representatives and later a Senator in his home state of Massachusetts. In 1960 Kennedy won the race for the White House and became the first Roman Catholic president of the USA. People liked him because he was good-looking and rich. He was a young, dynamic American and he had an attractive wife, Jacqueline.

Kennedy had many things to do during his short presidency. He helped African Americans in their fight for equal rights. He also sent US advisors to Vietnam because the Communists threatened to take control of it. JFK promised to put a man on the moon before the Soviets. His main problem, however, was Cuba. In 1961 the Soviet Union put missiles, which could attack the US, on the island. When Kennedy threatened to start a war, the Russians removed their missiles.

On November 22, 1963 JFK’s presidency ended when he rode in his open car through the streets of Dallas, Texas. Bullets hit him in the back of the head. He was rushed to hospital but doctors couldn’t save his life. Shortly afterwards he died and Vice President Lyndon Johnson became President.

A few hours after the murder Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested, because he was in the building from which the shots came. The police were sure that Oswald was the murderer. A few days later, Oswald himself was killed. The assassination is still a mystery today. First, it was thought that Oswald acted alone, but today many people think that there were more people involved in Kennedy’s murder.

Videos

Exercises

Word Search

Printable Downloads (PDF)

]]>