| A | B |
|---|
| chief executive | the official who runs or administers the government |
| chief of state | the symbolic leader of a nation |
| "lame duck" amendment | the 20th Amendment which moved the date of the President's inauguration to January 20th |
| presidential succession | the order in which the office of President is to be filled if it became vacant before an election |
| Electoral College | the group of people who are elected to cast the official votes for the presidency |
| slate | a list of persons to be appointed or elected to office |
| electors | the people elected by the voters to represent them in the Electoral College |
| electoral vote | vote cast by a member of the Electoral College |
| "faithless" electors | members of the Electoral College who did not cast their states' votes for the winner of the popular vote |
| executive order | a rule or regulation issued by the President or another executive official to help enforce a treaty, law, or court ruling |
| civil service | the system by which classified public employees are hired and promoted on the basis of merit rather than political party affiliation |
| executive privilige | the theoretical right of the President and other top officials of the executive branch to withhold information from Congress and the courts |
| State of the Union Address | the annual message delivered before Congress in which the President ourlines legislative priorities for the session to come |
| pocket veto | a President's indirect veto of a bill, exercised by failing to act on it |
| item veto | an executive's power to reject part of a bill while signing the rest into law |
| reprieve | a delay in carrying our a punishment |
| pardon | a legal release from punishment |
| amnesty | a general pardon given to a group of people who have broken the law |
| impoundment | a President's refusal to spend money |
| foreign service | a branch of the State Deparment that represents the United States overseas |
| ambassador | the highest-ranking diplomat appointed to represents the United States overseas |
| diplomatic recognition | the recognition of a foreign government by exchanging diplomatic representatives |
| treaty | a formal agreement between nations |
| executive agreement | an agreement between the President and the leader of a foreign government that does not required the Senate's approval |
| commander-in-chief | the President of the U.S. in his role as head of the military |
| War Powers Act of 1973 | law that restircts the President's use of troops abroad unless Congress declares war, a law authorizes such action, or there is a national emergency |
| bureacuracy | agencies and offices that take part in managing the government |
| Cabinet | the group of Presidential advisers made up of the heads of the executive departments |
| patronage | the practice of awarding government jobs to political supporters and friends |
| spoils system | a system of pagronage by which government jobs are awarded on the political party basis |
| Pendleton Act | the Civil Service Reform Act passed in 1883 to end the spoil system by appointing persons to government positions on a merit basis |
| GS rating | a General Schedule rating system for federal civil servants based on classes and ranks for job qualifications, difficulty, and pay |
