The power of the executive branch, also known as the power to enforce the laws, is granted to the President. He shall have be the Commander in Chief of the military and can require the advice of the executive departments. However, these departments do not appear to be named in the constitution, but rather created in the legislature. The heads of the executive departments are able to be filled by nominations by the president as well as ambassadors, public officials, Supreme Court justices, and all other officers. These nominations have to be consented to by the legislature and the president must inform Congress on information regarding the nation periodically. Additionally, the president is granted authority to convene and disburse either or both Houses of the legislature. However, the legislature is able to impeach the president, vice president, and any presidential nominees.
The vice president is considered the President of the Senate and can break ties in the Senate and takes over should the president be unable to fulfill his duties as president.
There are various Executive Departments that have formed over the centuries. The 5 minute version of these departments was created by a YouTuber by the name of Susan Evans and is linked here. According to the University of Washington there are 15 executive departments that are examined in further detail below. There are also many agencies and commissions that I hopefully will be able to explore in further detail at a later date.
According to the USDA their job is to "provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues," which seems to provide a decent compliment to the Department of Housing and Urban Development at least under a cursory glance. This department was created under President Abraham Lincoln who is known for outlawing slavery and the Civil War.
The Department of Commerce was originally created as one entity with the Department of Labor back in 1903 under President Theodore Roosevelt. The department originally contained the Bureau of Corporations, Bureau of Immigration, Light House Board, Steam Boat Inspection Service, Bureau of Statistics, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Bureau of Standards, Bureau of Census, Bureau of Fisheries, the new Bureau of Manufactures, and the Bureau of Labor. The two departments were split in 1913 when the Department of Labor was formed. This new department only consisted of the Bureau of Corporations, Bureau of Lighthouses, Steam Boat Inspection Service, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Bureau of Standards, Bureau of Census, Bureau of Fisheries, Bureau of Navigation, and the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Now the Department of Commerce consists of 13 bureaus and 16 offices.
The Department of Defense is the largest executive department. It had a budget of $841 billion dollars as of February 2025 and consists of the armed forces including various combatant commands, which seem to focus on a specific area of concern from a region of the world and outer space to cyber space and transportation. The department began with the creation of the Continental Army on June 14, 1775 under the command of George Washington. On August 7, 1789 the War Department was established, which consisted of the Army, Navy, and Marines. The Department of Defense was officially created by the merging of the Navy and War Departments on July 26, 1947.
The Department of Education concerns itself with education despite not including a section on its own history. The first federal education department was created in 1867 under the recommendation of Ohio Representative James A Garfield. It lasted one year before becoming an office in the Department of the Interior. This was created upon the requests of Abolitionists following the Civil War who sought to educate formerly enslaved individuals during Reconstruction. The department remained an office with limited power until the passage of the National Defense Education Act (1958) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965). These acts sought to provide funding for science and low income communities respectively. Then, under President Jimmy Carter, the Department of Education was once again established in 1979. Reagan was the president after Johnson and considered dismantling the department in order to prevent the federal government's wishes from being prioritized over local preferences. However, the Department of Education continues to exist today despite rumors that President Donald Trump may seek to dismantle it in his efforts to downsize the federal government.
The need for governmental involvement in energy was first conceived in 1939 when Albert Einstein alerted President Franklin D Roosevelt to the importance of developing a nuclear bomb. This letter turned into the beginnings of the Manhattan Project which eventually created the 2 bombs that were dropped on Japan ending the war on that front. In 1973 an energy crisis broke out due to an oil embargo from the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. In 1975 work begins on an oil pipeline from the North Slope of Alaska to Port Valdez, which would increase the supply of gasoline. This project lasted 2 years and in the mean time price controls continued to be in affect. These price controls were the result of creating the Federal Energy Office, a replacement of the previous Energy Policy Office, and were reinforced by President Gerald Ford signing the Energy Policy Conservation Act (1975), which extended price controls into 1979. The official Department of Energy was then founded in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter. Today the department consists of numerous offices and concerns itself with safety & security, scientific excellence, the environment, energy access, economic growth, and global diplomacy & leadership.
The Department of Health and Human Services indicates that its purpose is to "enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services." The forerunner of the department was a federal network of hospitals created to care for merchant seamen established in 1798. This hospital service was named the Marine Hospital Service in 1878 and tasked with the medical examination of arriving immigrants in 1891. Various other organization including the Bureau of Chemistry and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Health Division as well as the Pubic Health Service's Hygienic Laboratory were also created. On May 4, 1980 the Department of Health and Human Services was created in name upon the Department of Education separating from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. This department has since dealt with the AIDS crisis, HIPAA, Medicare, and Covid-19.
The Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002 this was after the events of September 11, 2001 when 2 planes hit the Twin Towers and another plane hit the Pentagon. Its purpose is "to secure the nation from the many threats we face." It covers aviation, border security, emergency response, cybersecurity, and chemical facility inspections.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development was created as a cabinet level agency in 1965. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the Civil Rights Act of 1968 outlawed most housing discrimination. By 1987 programs are established to deal with homelessness and in 1988 the agency is tasked with prociding housing to Native Americans and Alaskan Indians.
The Department of the Interior "protects and manages the Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage." This includes providing information about the resources and honoring responsibilities to native people groups. This department was created on March 3, 1849 to take care of the nation's internal affairs also known as the "Department of Everything Else."
The Department of Justice seeks to "uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil right."
The Department of Labor was originally created as one entity with the Department of Commerce back in 1903. The two departments were split in 1913 when a new Department of Labor was formed. This was during the labor movement with the Bread and Roses strike having occurred in 1912. A truce between laborers and employers was established during WWI, but was quickly dissolved after the war ended in November 1918 according to History.