today we're looking at article 2 section 3 and 4 of the us constitution
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the us constitution provides the basic framework for the united states government and organizes
the government into three branches legislative executive and judicial
article 1 of the constitution established and organized the legislative branch and article 2
establishes and organizes the executive branch or the presidency of the united states the executive
branch is supposed to ensure that laws are executed or carried out section one and two of
article two created the office of the president laid out some requirements to be president
and then stated the powers of the president now starting here with article 2 section 3 it defines
the duties or responsibilities of the president of the united states one responsibility listed here
in section 3 is that the president is to routinely update congress on the state of the country this
has become known as the state of the union address which the president gives each january to a joint
session or in other words the members of both the house of representatives and the senate
attend the speech held in the house chambers this speech is important because the president
will discuss things that have happened in the past year that he's liked but he'll also put
forward plans for new policy or legislation that he wants to see push through in the next year
now some quick history here on the state of the union address of course george washington being
the first president gave his address in person with a big speech and then the second president
john adams did the same but then we get to president thomas jefferson some people don't know
this about jefferson but he was not a great public speaker and he did not like giving big speeches
also he felt the president giving this speech almost resembled a king addressing his subjects
so jefferson just didn't like the idea of the state of the union speech instead jefferson
wrote a lengthy letter to congress as his state of the union and this became the new tradition
for over a hundred years this was how presidents gave their state of the union it wasn't until
president woodrow wilson in 1913 decided to reinstate the in-person speech to congress
after that presidents began to recognize the power of this speech to lay out policy in their agenda
president warren harding in 1922 would be the first to have his state of the union broadcast on
radio and then president harry truman would be the first to have the state of the union on television
in 1947. additionally here in section 3 it says that the president is to make suggestions on
laws or legislation remember only congress or the legislative branch has the power to make laws but
again here in section 3 it says the president is to make suggestions on legislation of course it is
here in section three that the executive branch is also given the responsibility of again making sure
that laws are carried out or executed section four the last section of article two so a much shorter
article than article 1. section 4 deals with removing a president from office for misconduct
now this is something that has been in the news and you've probably heard of impeachment
impeachment is a charge of misconduct against someone holding an office so this is where it
gets a little confusing because a president can be impeached yet not removed from office and how this
works is congress is who holds the power to bring charges against a president basically congress
will have a trial with arguments for and against a president being presented and the members of
congress are the jurors and make the guilty or not guilty guilty decision it starts in the house
of representatives and here all they have to have is a majority vote to impeach a president
so we have had several presidents in history be impeached in the house andrew johnson bill clinton
and donald trump twice but then the impeachment goes on to the us senate where they have to have
a trial again and then they have to get a super majority or a two-thirds majority vote in favor
of impeachment to then impeach the president in the senate we have yet in american history to
have a president also impeached in the senate so we have never had a president fully impeached and
then removed from office andrew johnson came within one vote of being impeached in both so
there is all of article 2 which again establishes and defines the executive branch of the united
states government so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you