text:
Atomic theory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Atomic model" redirects here. For the unrelated term in mathematical logic, see Atomic model (mathematical logic).
This article is about the historical models of the atom. For a history of the study of how atoms combine to form molecules, see History of molecular theory.
The current theoretical model of the atom involves a dense nucleus surrounded by a probabilistic "cloud" of electrons
In chemistry and physics, atomic theory is a scientific theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of discrete units called atoms. It began as a philosophical concept in ancient Greece and entered the scientific mainstream in the early 19th century when discoveries in the field of chemistry showed that matter did indeed behave as if it were made up of atoms.
The word atom comes from the Ancient Greek adjective atomos, meaning "indivisible".[1] 19th century chemists began using the term in connection with the growing number of irreducible chemical elements. While seemingly apropos, around the turn of the 20th century, through various experiments with electromagnetism and radioactivity, physicists discovered that the so-called "uncuttable atom" was actually a conglomerate of various subatomic particles (chiefly, electrons, protons and neutrons) which can exist separately from each other. In fact, in certain extreme environments, such as neutron stars, extreme temperature and pressure prevents atoms from existing at all.
Since atoms were found to be divisible, physicists later invented the term "elementary particles" to describe the "uncuttable", though not indestructible, parts of an atom. The field of science which studies subatomic particles is particle physics, and it is in this field that physicists hope to discover the true fundamental nature of matter.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Philosophical atomism
1.2 John Dalton
1.3 Avogadro
1.4 Brownian Motion
1.5 Discovery of subatomic particles
1.6 Discovery of the nucleus
1.7 First steps toward a quantum physical model of the atom
1.8 Discovery of isotopes
1.9 Discovery of nuclear particles
1.10 Quantum physical models of the atom
2 See also
3 Notes
4 Further reading
5 External links
History
Philosophical atomism
Main article: Atomism
The idea that matter is made up of discrete units is a very old one, appearing in many ancient cultures such as Greece and India. The word "atom" was coined by the ancient Greek philosophers Leucippus and his pupil Democritus.[2][3] However, these ideas were founded in philosophical and theological reasoning rather than evidence and experimentation. Because of this, they could not convince everybody, so atomism was but one of a number of competing theories on the nature of matter. It was not until the 19th century that the idea was embraced and refined by scientists, as the blossoming science of chemistry produced discoveries that could easily be explained using the concept of atoms.
John Dalton
Near the end of the 18th century, two laws about chemical reactions emerged without referring to the notion of an atomic theory. The first was the law of conservation of mass, formulated by Antoine Lavoisier in 1789, which states that the total mass in a chemical reaction remains constant (that is, the reactants have the same mass as the products).[4] The second was the law of definite proportions. First proven by the French chemist Joseph Louis Proust in 1799,[5] this law states that if a compound is broken down into its constituent elements, then the masses of the constituents will always have the same proportions, regardless of the quantity or source of the original substance.
John Dalton studied and expanded upon this previous work and developed the law of multiple proportions: if two elements can be combined to form a number of possible compounds, then the ratios of the masses of the second element which combine with a fixed mass of the first element will be ratios of small whole numbers. For example: Proust had studied tin oxides and found that their masses were either 88.1% tin and 11.9% oxygen or 78.7% tin and 21.3% oxygen (these were tin(II) oxide and tin dioxide respectively). Dalton noted from these percentages that 100g of tin will combine either with 13.5g or 27g of oxygen; 13.5 and 27 form a ratio of 1:2. Dalton found that an atomic theory of matter could elegantly explain this common pattern in chemistry. In the case of Proust's tin oxides, one tin atom will combine with either one or two oxygen atoms.[6]
Dalton believed atomic theory could explain why water absorbed different gases in different proportions - for example, he found that water absorbed carbon dioxide far better than it absorbed nitrogen.[7] Dalton hypothesized this was due to the differences in mass and complexity of the gases' respective particles. Indeed, carbon dioxide molecules (CO2) are heavier and larger than nitrogen molecules (N2).
Dalton proposed that each chemical element is composed of atoms of a single, unique type, and though they cannot be altered or destroyed by chemical means, they can combine to form more complex structures (chemical compounds). This marked the first truly scientific theory of the atom, since Dalton reached his conclusions by experimentation and examination of the results in an empirical fashion.
Various atoms and molecules as depicted in John Dalton's A New System of Chemical Philosophy (1808).
In 1803 Dalton orally presented his first list of relative atomic weights for a number of substances. This paper was published in 1805, but he did not discuss there exactly how he obtained these figures.[7] The method was first revealed in 1807 by his acquaintance Thomas Thomson, in the third edition of Thomson's textbook, A System of Chemistry. Finally, Dalton published a full account in his own textbook, A New System of Chemical Philosophy, 1808 and 1810.
Dalton estimated the atomic weights according to the mass ratios in which they combined, with the hydrogen atom taken as unity. However, Dalton did not conceive that with some elements atoms exist in molecules—e.g. pure oxygen exists as O2. He also mistakenly believed that the simplest compound between any two elements is always one atom of each (so he thought water was HO, not H2O).[8] This, in addition to the crudity of his equipment, flawed his results. For instance, in 1803 he believed that oxygen atoms were 5.5 times heavier than hydrogen atoms, because in water he measured 5.5 grams of oxygen for every 1 gram of hydrogen and believed the formula for water was HO. Adopting better data, in 1806 he concluded that the atomic weight of oxygen must actually be 7 rather than 5.5, and he retained this weight for the rest of his life. Others at this time had already concluded that the oxygen atom must weigh 8 relative to hydrogen equals 1, if one assumes Dalton's formula for the water molecule (HO), or 16 if one assumes the modern water formula (H2O).[9]
Avogadro
The flaw in Dalton's theory was corrected in principle in 1811 by Amedeo Avogadro. Avogadro had proposed that equal volumes of any two gases, at equal temperature and pressure, contain equal numbers of molecules (in other words, the mass of a gas's particles does not affect the volume that it occupies).[10] Avogadro's law allowed him to deduce the diatomic nature of numerous gases by studying the volumes at which they reacted. For instance: since two liters of hydrogen will react with just one liter of oxygen to produce two liters of water vapor (at constant pressure and temperature), it meant a single oxygen molecule splits in two in order to form two particles of water. Thus, Avogadro was able to offer more accurate estimates of the atomic mass of oxygen and various other elements, and made a clear distinction between molecules and atoms.
Brownian Motion
In 1827, the British botanist Robert Brown observed that dust particles inside pollen grains floating in water constantly jiggled about for no apparent reason. In 1905, Albert Einstein theorized that this Brownian motion was caused by the water molecules continuously knocking the grains about, and developed a hypothetical mathematical model to describe it.[11] This model was validated experimentally in 1908 by French physicist Jean Perrin, thus providing additional validation for particle theory (and by extension atomic theory).
Discovery of subatomic particles
Main articles: Electron and Plum pudding model
The cathode rays (blue) were emitted from the cathode, sharpened to a beam by the slits, then deflected as they passed between the two electrified plates.
Atoms were thought to be the smallest possible division of matter until 1897 when J.J. Thomson discovered the electron through his work on cathode rays.[12]
A Crookes tube is a sealed glass container in which two electrodes are separated by a vacuum. When a voltage is applied across the electrodes, cathode rays are generated, creating a glowing patch where they strike the glass at the opposite end of the tube. Through experimentation, Thomson discovered that the rays could be deflected by an electric field (in addition to magnetic fields, which was already known). He concluded that these rays, rather than being a form of light, were composed of very light negatively charged particles he called "corpuscles" (they would later be renamed electrons by other scientists). He measured the mass-to-charge ratio and discovered it was 1800 times smaller than that of hydrogen, the smallest atom. These corpuscles were a particle unlike any other previously known.
Thomson suggested that atoms were divisible, and that the corpuscles were their building blocks.[13] To explain the overall neutral charge of the atom, he proposed that the corpuscles were distributed in a uniform sea of positive charge; this was the plum pudding model[14] as the electrons were embedded in the positive charge like plums in a plum pudding (although in Thomson's model they were not stationary).
Discovery of the nucleus
Main article: Rutherford model
The Geiger-Marsden experiment
Left: Expected results: alpha particles passing through the plum pudding model of the atom with negligible deflection.
Right: Observed results: a small portion of the particles were deflected by the concentrated positive charge of the nucleus.
Thomson's plum pudding model was disproved in 1909 by one of his former students, Ernest Rutherford, who discovered that most of the mass and positive charge of an atom is concentrated in a very small fraction of its volume, which he assumed to be at the very center.
In the Geiger–Marsden experiment, Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden (colleagues of Rutherford working at his behest) shot alpha particles at thin sheets of metal and measured their deflection through the use of a fluorescent screen.[15] Given the very small mass of the electrons, the high momentum of the alpha particles, and the low concentration of the positive charge of the plum pudding model, the experimenters expected all the alpha particles to pass through the metal foil without significant deflection. To their astonishment, a small fraction of the alpha particles experienced heavy deflection. Rutherford concluded that the positive charge of the atom must be concentrated in a very tiny volume to produce an electric field sufficiently intense to deflect the alpha particles so strongly.
This led Rutherford to propose a planetary model in which a cloud of electrons surrounded a small, compact nucleus of positive charge. Only such a concentration of charge could produce the electric field strong enough to cause the heavy deflection.[16]
First steps toward a quantum physical model of the atom
Main article: Bohr model
The planetary model of the atom had two significant shortcomings. The first is that, unlike planets orbiting a sun, electrons are charged particles. An accelerating electric charge is known to emit electromagnetic waves according to the Larmor formula in classical electromagnetism. An orbiting charge should steadily lose energy and spiral toward the nucleus, colliding with it in a small fraction of a second. The second problem was that the planetary model could not explain the highly peaked emission and absorption spectra of atoms that were observed.
The Bohr model of the atom
Quantum theory revolutionized physics at the beginning of the 20th century, when Max Planck and Albert Einstein postulated that light energy is emitted or absorbed in discrete amounts known as quanta (singular, quantum). In 1913, Niels Bohr incorporated this idea into his Bohr model of the atom, in which an electron could only orbit the nucleus in particular circular orbits with fixed angular momentum and energy, its distance from the nucleus (i.e., their radii) being proportional to its energy.[17] Under this model an electron could not spiral into the nucleus because it could not lose energy in a continuous manner; instead, it could only make instantaneous "quantum leaps" between the fixed energy levels.[17] When this occurred, light was emitted or absorbed at a frequency proportional to the change in energy (hence the absorption and emission of light in discrete spectra).[17]
Bohr's model was not perfect. It could only predict the spectral lines of hydrogen; it couldn't predict those of multielectron atoms. Worse still, as spectrographic technology improved, additional spectral lines in hydrogen were observed which Bohr's model couldn't explain. In 1916, Arnold Sommerfeld added elliptical orbits to the Bohr model to explain the extra emission lines, but this made the model very difficult to use, and it still couldn't explain more complex atoms.
Discovery of isotopes
Main article: Isotope
While experimenting with the products of radioactive decay, in 1913 radiochemist Frederick Soddy discovered that there appeared to be more than one element at each position on the periodic table.[18] The term isotope was coined by Margaret Todd as a suitable name for these elements.
That same year, J.J. Thomson conducted an experiment in which he channeled a stream of neon ions through magnetic and electric fields, striking a photographic plate at the other end. He observed two glowing patches on the plate, which suggested two different deflection trajectories. Thomson concluded this was because some of the neon ions had a different mass.[19] The nature of this differing mass would later be explained by the discovery of neutrons in 1932.
Discovery of nuclear particles
Main articles: Atomic nucleus and Discovery of the neutron
In 1917 Rutherford bombarded nitrogen gas with alpha particles and observed hydrogen nuclei being emitted from the gas (Rutherford recognized these, because he had previously obtained them bombarding hydrogen with alpha particles, and observing hydrogen nuclei in the products). Rutherford concluded that the hydrogen nuclei emerged from the nuclei of the nitrogen atoms themselves (in effect, he had split a nitrogen).[20]
From his own work and the work of his students Bohr and Henry Moseley, Rutherford knew that the positive charge of any atom could always be equated to that of an integer number of hydrogen nuclei. This, coupled with the atomic mass of many elements being roughly equivalent to an integer number of hydrogen atoms - then assumed to be the lightest particles - led him to conclude that hydrogen nuclei were singular particles and a basic constituent of all atomic nuclei. He named such particles protons. Further experimentation by Rutherford found that the nuclear mass of most atoms exceeded that of the protons it possessed; he speculated that this surplus mass was composed of previously-unknown neutrally charged particles, which were tentatively dubbed "neutrons".
In 1928, Walter Bothe observed that beryllium emitted a highly penetrating, electrically neutral radiation when bombarded with alpha particles. It was later discovered that this radiation could knock hydrogen atoms out of paraffin wax. Initially it was thought to be high-energy gamma radiation, since gamma radiation had a similar effect on electrons in metals, but James Chadwick found that the ionization effect was too strong for it to be due to electromagnetic radiation, so long as energy and momentum were conserved in the interaction. In 1932, Chadwick exposed various elements, such as hydrogen and nitrogen, to the mysterious "beryllium radiation", and by measuring the energies of the recoiling charged particles, he deduced that the radiation was actually composed of electrically neutral particles which could not be massless like the gamma ray, but instead were required to have a mass similar to that of a proton. Chadwick now claimed these particles as Rutherford's neutrons.[21] For his discovery of the neutron, Chadwick received the Nobel Prize in 1935.
Quantum physical models of the atom
Main article: Atomic orbital
The five filled atomic orbitals of a neon atom separated and arranged in order of increasing energy from left to right, with the last three orbitals being equal in energy. Each orbital holds up to two electrons, which most probably exist in the zones represented by the colored bubbles. Each electron is equally present in both orbital zones, shown here by color only to highlight the different wave phase.
In 1924, Louis de Broglie proposed that all moving particles—particularly subatomic particles such as electrons—exhibit a degree of wave-like behavior. Erwin Schrödinger, fascinated by this idea, explored whether or not the movement of an electron in an atom could be better explained as a wave rather than as a particle. Schrödinger's equation, published in 1926,[22] describes an electron as a wavefunction instead of as a point particle. This approach elegantly predicted many of the spectral phenomena that Bohr's model failed to explain. Although this concept was mathematically convenient, it was difficult to visualize, and faced opposition.[23] One of its critics, Max Born, proposed instead that Schrödinger's wavefunction described not the electron but rather all its possible states, and thus could be used to calculate the probability of finding an electron at any given location around the nucleus.[24] This reconciled the two opposing theories of particle versus wave electrons and the idea of wave–particle duality was introduced. This theory stated that the electron may exhibit the properties of both a wave and a particle. For example, it can be refracted like a wave, and has mass like a particle.[25]
A consequence of describing electrons as waveforms is that it is mathematically impossible to simultaneously derive the position and momentum of an electron. This became known as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle after the theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg, who first described it and published it in 1927.[26] This invalidated Bohr's model, with its neat, clearly defined circular orbits. The modern model of the atom describes the positions of electrons in an atom in terms of probabilities. An electron can potentially be found at any distance from the nucleus, but, depending on its energy level, exists more frequently in certain regions around the nucleus than others; this pattern is referred to as its atomic orbital. The orbitals come in a variety of shapes-sphere, dumbbell, torus, etc.-with the nucleus in the middle.[27]
See also
Physics portal
Spectroscopy
History of the molecule
Discoveries of the chemical elements
Introduction to quantum mechanics
Kinetic theory of gases
Atomism
The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory
Notes
Jump up ^ Berryman, Sylvia, "Ancient Atomism", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) [1]
Jump up ^ Pullman, Bernard (1998). The Atom in the History of Human Thought. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 31–33. ISBN 0-19-515040-6.
Jump up ^ Cohen, Henri; Lefebvre, Claire, eds. (2017). Handbook of Categorization in Cognitive Science (Second ed.). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier. p. 427. ISBN 978-0-08-101107-2.
Jump up ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Lavoisier, Antoine (1743-1794)". scienceworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
Jump up ^ Proust, Joseph Louis. "Researches on Copper", excerpted from Ann. chim. 32, 26-54 (1799) [as translated and reproduced in Henry M. Leicester and Herbert S. Klickstein, A Source Book in Chemistry, 1400–1900 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard, 1952)]. Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
Jump up ^ Andrew G. van Melsen (1952). From Atomos to Atom. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-49584-1.
^ Jump up to: a b Dalton, John. "On the Absorption of Gases by Water and Other Liquids", in Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. 1803. Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
Jump up ^ Johnson, Chris. "Avogadro - his contribution to chemistry". Archived from the original on 2002-07-10. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
Jump up ^ Alan J. Rocke (1984). Chemical Atomism in the Nineteenth Century. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
Jump up ^ Avogadro, Amedeo (1811). "Essay on a Manner of Determining the Relative Masses of the Elementary Molecules of Bodies, and the Proportions in Which They Enter into These Compounds". Journal de Physique. 73: 58–76.
Jump up ^ Einstein, A. (1905). "Über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen". Annalen der Physik. 322 (8): 549. Bibcode:1905AnP...322..549E. doi:10.1002/andp.19053220806. hdl:10915/2785.
Jump up ^ Thomson, J.J. (1897). "Cathode rays" ([facsimile from Stephen Wright, Classical Scientific Papers, Physics (Mills and Boon, 1964)]). Philosophical Magazine. 44 (269): 293. doi:10.1080/14786449708621070.
Jump up ^ Whittaker, E. T. (1951), A history of the theories of aether and electricity. Vol 1, Nelson, London
Jump up ^ Thomson, J.J. (1904). "On the Structure of the Atom: an Investigation of the Stability and Periods of Oscillation of a number of Corpuscles arranged at equal intervals around the Circumference of a Circle; with Application of the Results to the Theory of Atomic Structure". Philosophical Magazine. 7 (39): 237. doi:10.1080/14786440409463107.
Jump up ^ Geiger, H (1910). "The Scattering of the α-Particles by Matter". Proceedings of the Royal Society. A 83: 492–504.
Jump up ^ Rutherford, Ernest (1911). "The Scattering of α and β Particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom" (PDF). Philosophical Magazine. 21 (4): 669. Bibcode:2012PMag...92..379R. doi:10.1080/14786435.2011.617037.
^ Jump up to: a b c Bohr, Niels (1913). "On the constitution of atoms and molecules" (PDF). Philosophical Magazine. 26 (153): 476–502. doi:10.1080/14786441308634993.
Jump up ^ "Frederick Soddy, The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1921". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
Jump up ^ Thomson, J.J. (1913). "Rays of positive electricity". Proceedings of the Royal Society. A 89 (607): 1–20. Bibcode:1913RSPSA..89....1T. doi:10.1098/rspa.1913.0057. [as excerpted in Henry A. Boorse & Lloyd Motz, The World of the Atom, Vol. 1 (New York: Basic Books, 1966)]. Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
Jump up ^ Rutherford, Ernest (1919). "Collisions of alpha Particles with Light Atoms. IV. An Anomalous Effect in Nitrogen". Philosophical Magazine. 37 (222): 581. doi:10.1080/14786440608635919.
Jump up ^ Chadwick, James (1932). "Possible Existence of a Neutron" (PDF). Nature. 129 (3252): 312. Bibcode:1932Natur.129Q.312C. doi:10.1038/129312a0.
Jump up ^ Schrödinger, Erwin (1926). "Quantisation as an Eigenvalue Problem". Annalen der Physik. 81 (18): 109–139. Bibcode:1926AnP...386..109S. doi:10.1002/andp.19263861802.
Jump up ^ Mahanti, Subodh. "Erwin Schrödinger: The Founder of Quantum Wave Mechanics". Archived from the original on 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
Jump up ^ Mahanti, Subodh. "Max Born: Founder of Lattice Dynamics". Archived from the original on 2009-01-22. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
Jump up ^ Greiner, Walter. "Quantum Mechanics: An Introduction". Retrieved 2010-06-14.
Jump up ^ Heisenberg, W. (1927). "Über den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik". Zeitschrift für Physik (in German). 43 (3–4): 172–198. Bibcode:1927ZPhy...43..172H. doi:10.1007/BF01397280.
Jump up ^ Milton Orchin; Roger Macomber; Allan Pinhas; R. Wilson. "The Vocabulary and Concepts of Organic Chemistry, Second Edition," (PDF). Retrieved 2010-06-14.
Further reading
Bernard Pullman (1998) The Atom in the History of Human Thought, trans. by Axel Reisinger. Oxford Univ. Press.
Eric Scerri (2007) The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance, Oxford University Press, New York.
Charles Adolphe Wurtz (1881) The Atomic Theory, D. Appleton and Company, New York.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Atomic theory
Atomism by S. Mark Cohen.
Atomic Theory - detailed information on atomic theory with respect to electrons and electricity.
[hide]
v
t
e
Atomic models
Single atoms
Dalton model (Billiard ball model)
Thomson model (Plum pudding model)
Lewis model (Cubical atom model)
Nagaoka model (Saturnian model)
Rutherford model (Planetary model)
Bohr model (Rutherford–Bohr model)
Bohr–Sommerfeld model (Refined Bohr model)
Gryziński model (Free-fall model)
Schrodinger model (Electron cloud model)
Dirac-Gordon model (Relativistic atomic model)
Atoms in solids
Einstein solid
Debye model
Drude model
Free electron model
Nearly free electron model
Band structure
Density functional theory
Atoms in fluids
Ideal gas
Van der Waals gas
Newtonian fluid
Bose–Einstein condensate
Scientists
Felix Bloch
Niels Bohr
Satyendra Nath Bose
John Dalton
Peter Debye
Paul Dirac
Paul Drude
Albert Einstein
Walter Gordon
Michał Gryziński
Irving Langmuir
Gilbert N. Lewis
Hantaro Nagaoka
Isaac Newton
Ernest Rutherford
Erwin Schrödinger
Arnold Sommerfeld
J. J. Thomson
Johannes Diderik van der Waals
Book:Atomic models
Category:Atoms
Portal:Physics / Chemistry
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atomic_theory&oldid=839671757"
Categories:
Atomic physics
Statistical mechanics
Chemistry theories
Foundational quantum physics
Amount of substance
Hidden categories:
CS1 German-language sources (de)
Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism
Good articles
Pages using div col without cols and colwidth parameters
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
View source
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikiquote
Languages
العربية
বাংলা
Беларуская
Български
Bosanski
Català
Čeština
Deutsch
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
Euskara
فارسی
Français
한국어
हिन्दी
Bahasa Indonesia
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
Magyar
മലയാളം
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Português
Română
Русский
Scots
සිංහල
Simple English
کوردی
Српски / srpski
Suomi
Svenska
Tagalog
தமிழ்
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
اردو
Tiếng Việt
Võro
Winaray
中文
Kabɩyɛ
Lingua Franca Nova
38 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 4 May 2018, at 22:54.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: This is a good article. Follow the link for more information.

values: mw-indicator-good-star mw-indicator

values: This article is semi-protected due to vandalism

values: mw-indicator-pp-default mw-indicator

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

values:
/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language
mw-redirect
Ancient Greek language

values:
/wiki/Joseph_Louis_Proust
mw-redirect
Joseph Louis Proust

values:
/wiki/Tin_oxide_(disambiguation)
mw-redirect
Tin oxide (disambiguation)

values: Robert Brown (Scottish botanist from Montrose)

values:
/wiki/Jean_Perrin
mw-redirect
Jean Perrin

values:
/wiki/J.J._Thomson
mw-redirect
J.J. Thomson

values:
/wiki/Electromagnetic_wave
mw-redirect
Electromagnetic wave

values:
/wiki/Absorption_spectrum
mw-redirect
Absorption spectrum

values:
/wiki/Prout%27s_law
mw-redirect
Prout's law

values:
/wiki/Walter_Bothe
mw-redirect
Walter Bothe

values:
/wiki/Gamma_radiation
mw-redirect
Gamma radiation

values:
/wiki/Degenerate_energy_level
mw-redirect
Degenerate energy level

values:
/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_equation
mw-redirect
Schrödinger's equation

values:
/wiki/Atomic_orbital_model
mw-redirect
Atomic orbital model

values: display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle

values: margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;border:solid #aaa 1px

values:
/wiki/History_of_the_molecule
mw-redirect
History of the molecule

values: The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory

values: div-col columns column-count column-count-2

values: -moz-column-count: 2; -webkit-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1002%2Fandp.19053220806

values:
nofollow
external text
//hdl.handle.net/10915%2F2785

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1098%2Frspa.1913.0057

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1038%2F129312a0

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1002%2Fandp.19263861802

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01397280

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

attrs: alt src title width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:CS1 German-language sources (de)

values: Category:Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism

values: Category:Pages using div col without cols and colwidth parameters

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values:
/wiki/Atomic_theory
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values:
This page is protected.
You can view its source [ctrl-alt-e]

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: نظرية ذرية – Arabic

values: পারমাণবিক তত্ত্ব – Bangla

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bn
display: none;

values: Атамная тэорыя – Belarusian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-be
display: none;

values: Атомна теория – Bulgarian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bg
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bs
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ca
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-cs
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-de
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-et
display: none;

values: Ατομική θεωρία – Greek

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-el
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-eu
display: none;

values: نظریه اتمی – Persian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fa
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ko
display: none;

values: परमाणुवाद – Hindi

values: התורה האטומית – Hebrew

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-he
display: none;

values: ಪರಮಾಣು ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತ – Kannada

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-kn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hu
display: none;

values: അണുസിദ്ധാന്തം – Malayalam

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ml
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ja
display: none;

values:
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomteori
Atomteori – Norwegian
no
no
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-no
display: none;

values:
https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomteori
Atomteori – Norwegian Nynorsk
nn
nn
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nn
display: none;

values: ਪ੍ਰਮਾਣੂ ਸਿਧਾਂਤ – Punjabi

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pa
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ro
display: none;

values: Атомная теория – Russian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sco
display: none;

values: පරමාණුක වාදය – Sinhala

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-si
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-simple
display: none;

values: بیرۆکەی ئەتۆمی – Central Kurdish

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb
display: none;

values: Атомистика – Serbian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sr
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fi
display: none;

values:
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomteori
Atomteori – Swedish
sv
sv
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sv
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tl
display: none;

values: அணுக் கோட்பாடு – Tamil

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ta
display: none;

values: ทฤษฎีอะตอม – Thai

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-th
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tr
display: none;

values: Атомна теорія – Ukrainian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-uk
display: none;

values: نظریۂ جوہر – Urdu

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-vi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fiu-vro
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-war
display: none;

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-zh badge-Q17437798 badge-goodarticle

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-kbp
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lfn
display: none;

values: All languages (initial selection from common choices by you and others)

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Atomic_theory rootpage-Atomic_theory skin-vector action-view


text:
United States presidential line of succession
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The United States presidential line of succession is the order in which persons may become or act as President of the United States if the incumbent President becomes incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office (by impeachment by the House of Representatives and subsequent conviction by the Senate). The line of succession is set by the United States Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947[1] as subsequently amended to include newly created cabinet offices. The succession follows the order of Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, President pro tempore of the Senate, and then the heads of federal executive departments who form the Cabinet of the United States. The Cabinet currently has fifteen members, beginning with the Secretary of State, and followed by the rest in the order of their positions' creation. Those heads of department who are ineligible to act as President are also ineligible to succeed the President by succession, for example most commonly if they are not a natural-born U.S. citizen.
Several constitutional law experts have raised questions as to the constitutionality of the provisions that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate succeed to the presidency,[2] and in 2003 the Continuity of Government Commission raised a number of other issues with the current line of succession.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 Current order
2 Eligibility
2.1 Eligibility requirements
2.2 Acting officers
3 Motivation for changes to the succession in 1945
4 Constitutional provisions
5 Acting President and President
6 History of succession law set by Congress
6.1 Presidential Succession Act 1792
6.2 Presidential Succession Act 1886
6.3 Presidential Succession Act 1947
6.4 Postmaster General removed 1971
6.5 Secretary of Homeland Security added 2006
7 Successions beyond Vice President
8 Constitutional concerns
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Current order[edit]
The current presidential order of succession is as follows:[4]
Key
Eligible Democrat (D)
Eligible Republican (R)
Eligible Independent (I)
Eligible unknown
Not eligible
No.
Office
Current officer
1
Vice President Mike Pence (R)
2
Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan (R)
3
President pro tempore of the Senate Orrin Hatch (R)
4
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R)
5
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin (R)
6
Secretary of Defense James Mattis (I)
7
Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R)
8
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke (R)
9
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue (R)
10
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross (R)
11
Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta (R)
12
Secretary of Health and Human Services Eric Hargan (R)[a]
Acting
13
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson (R)
–
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao (R)[b]
14
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (R)
15
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos (R)
16
Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin (I)
17
Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke (I)[a]
Acting
^ Jump up to: a b This listing assumes that acting officers whose prior appointment required Senate confirmation are eligible for the line of succession. See Acting officers below.
Jump up ^ Not a natural-born citizen (acquired U.S. citizenship by naturalization) and thus ineligible for the Presidency.
Cabinet officers are in line according to the chronological order of their department's creation or the department of which their department is the successor (the Department of Defense being successor to the Department of War, and the Department of Health and Human Services being successor to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare).[a]
Eligibility[edit]
Eligibility requirements[edit]
To be eligible to serve as President, a person must be a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years of age, and a resident within the United States for at least 14 years. These eligibility requirements are specified both in the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, and in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19(e)).
Acting officers[edit]
Acting officers may be eligible. In 2009, the Continuity of Government Commission, a private non-partisan think tank, reported,
The language in the current Presidential Succession Act is less clear than that of the 1886 Act with respect to Senate confirmation. The 1886 Act refers to "such officers as shall have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to the office therein named..." The current act merely refers to "officers appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." Read literally, this means that the current act allows for acting secretaries to be in the line of succession as long as they are confirmed by the Senate for a post (even for example, the second or third in command within a department). It is common for a second in command to become acting secretary when the secretary leaves office. Though there is some dispute over this provision, the language clearly permits acting secretaries to be placed in the line of succession. (We have spoken to acting secretaries who told us they had been placed in the line of succession.)[5]
Motivation for changes to the succession in 1945[edit]
Two months after succeeding Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Harry S. Truman proposed that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate be granted priority in the line of succession over the Cabinet so as to ensure the President would not be able to appoint his successor to the Presidency.[6]
The Secretary of State and the other Cabinet officials are appointed by the President, while the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate are elected officials. The Speaker is chosen by the U.S. House of Representatives, and every Speaker has been a member of that body for the duration of their term as Speaker, though this is not technically a requirement; the President pro tempore is chosen by the U.S. Senate and customarily the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service fills this position. The Congress approved this change and inserted the Speaker and President pro tempore in line, ahead of the members of the Cabinet in the order in which their positions were established.
In his speech supporting the changes, Truman noted that the House of Representatives is more likely to be in political agreement with the President and Vice President than the Senate. The succession of a Republican to a Democratic Presidency would further complicate an already unstable political situation. However, when the changes to the succession were signed into law, they placed Republican House Speaker Joseph W. Martin first in the line of succession after the Vice President.[7]
Some of Truman's critics said that his ordering of the Speaker before the President pro tempore was motivated by his dislike of the then-current holder of the latter rank, Senator Kenneth McKellar.[8] Further motivation may have been provided by Truman's preference for House Speaker Sam Rayburn to be next in the line of succession, rather than Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.[7]
Constitutional provisions[edit]
The line of succession is mentioned in three places in the Constitution:
Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 makes the Vice President first in the line of succession and allows the Congress to provide by law for cases in which neither the President nor Vice President can serve. The current such law governing succession is the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19).
Section 3 of the 20th Amendment provides that if the President-elect dies before his term begins, the Vice President-elect becomes President on Inauguration Day and serves for the full term to which the President-elect was elected. The section also provides that if, on Inauguration Day, a president has not been chosen or the President-elect does not qualify for the presidency, the Vice President-elect acts as president until a president is chosen or the President-elect qualifies. Finally, Section 3 allows the Congress to provide by law for cases in which neither a President-elect nor a Vice President-elect is eligible or available to serve.
The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, clarified Article II, Section 1: that the Vice President is the direct successor of the President. He or she becomes President if the President dies, resigns or is removed from office. The amendment also provides for the situation where the President is temporarily disabled, such as if the President has a surgical procedure or becomes mentally unfit.
The amendment also provides for Vice Presidential succession, by requiring Vice Presidential vacancies to be filled by the President and confirmed by both houses of the Congress. Previously, whenever a Vice President had succeeded to the Presidency or had otherwise left the office empty (through death, resignation, or removal from office), the Vice Presidency remained vacant until the next Presidential and Vice Presidential terms began.
Acting President and President[edit]
Main article: Acting President of the United States
New President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force One, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution provides that:
In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President ... until the disability be removed, or a President elected.
This originally left open the question whether "the same" refers to "the said office" or only "the powers and duties of the said office." Some historians, including Edward Corwin[9] and John D. Feerick,[9] have argued that the framers' intention was that the Vice President would remain Vice President while executing the powers and duties of the Presidency; however, there is also much evidence to the contrary, the most compelling of which is Article I, section 3, of the Constitution itself, the relevant text of which reads:
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse [sic] their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.
This text appears to answer the hypothetical question of whether the office or merely the powers of the Presidency devolved upon the Vice President on his succession. Thus, the 25th Amendment merely restates and reaffirms the validity of existing precedent, apart from adding new protocols for Presidential disability.[original research?] Not everyone agreed with this interpretation when it was first actually tested, and it was left to Vice President John Tyler, the first presidential successor in U.S. history, to establish the precedent that was respected in the absence of the 25th Amendment.
In 1841, John Tyler became the first person to succeed to the presidency.
Upon the death of President William Henry Harrison in 1841 and after a brief hesitation, Tyler took the position that he was the President and not merely acting President upon taking the presidential oath of office. However, some contempories—including John Quincy Adams,[9][10] Henry Clay[11] and other members of Congress[10][11] Whig party leaders[11] and even Tyler's own cabinet[10][11]—believed that he was only acting as President and did not have the office itself.
Nonetheless, Tyler adhered to his position, even returning, unopened, mail addressed to the "Acting President of the United States" sent by his detractors.[12] Tyler's view ultimately prevailed when the Senate voted to accept the title "President,"[11] and this precedent was followed thereafter. The question was finally resolved by Section 1 of the 25th Amendment, which specifies that "In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President." The Amendment does not specify whether officers other than the Vice President can become President rather than Acting President in the same set of circumstances. The Presidential Succession Act refers only to other officers acting as President rather than becoming President.
History of succession law set by Congress[edit]
Presidential Succession Act 1792[edit]
Main article: Presidential Succession Act
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Presidential Succession Act 1792
The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 was the first succession law passed by Congress. The act was contentious because the Federalists did not want the then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, who had become the leader of the Democratic-Republicans, to follow the Vice President in the succession. There were also separation of powers concerns over including the Chief Justice of the United States in the line. The compromise they worked out established the President pro tempore of the Senate as next in line after the Vice President, followed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In either case, these officers were to "act as President of the United States until the disability be removed or a president be elected." The Act called for a special election to be held in November of the year in which dual vacancies occurred (unless the vacancies occurred after the first Wednesday in October, in which case the election would occur the following year; or unless the vacancies occurred within the last year of the presidential term, in which case the next election would take place as regularly scheduled). The people elected President and Vice President in such a special election would have served a full four-year term beginning on March 4 of the next year, but no such election ever took place.
Presidential Succession Act 1886[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Presidential Succession Act 1886
In 1881, after the death of President Garfield, and in 1885, after the death of Vice President Hendricks, there had been no President pro tempore in office, and as the new House of Representatives had yet to convene, no Speaker either,[13] leaving no one at all in the line of succession after the vice president. When Congress convened in December 1885, President Cleveland asked for a revision of the 1792 act, which was passed in 1886. Congress replaced the President pro tempore and Speaker with officers of the President's Cabinet with the Secretary of State first in line. In the first 100 years of the United States, six former Secretaries of State had gone on to be elected President, while only two congressional leaders had advanced to that office. As a result, changing the order of the line of succession seemed reasonable.[citation needed]
Presidential Succession Act 1947[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Presidential Succession Act 1947
The Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed into law by President Harry S. Truman, added the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore back in the line, but switched the two from the 1792 order. It remains the sequence used today[update]. Since the reorganization of the military in 1947 had merged the War Department (which governed the Army) with the Department of the Navy into the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense took the place in the order of succession previously held by the Secretary of War. The office of Secretary of the Navy, which had existed as a Cabinet-level position since 1798, had become subordinate to the Secretary of Defense in the military reorganization, and so was dropped from the line of succession in the 1947 Succession Act.
Postmaster General removed 1971[edit]
Until 1971, the Postmaster General, the head of the Post Office Department, was a member of the Cabinet, initially the last in the presidential line of succession before new officers were added. Once the Post Office Department was re-organized into the United States Postal Service, a special agency independent of the executive branch, the Postmaster General ceased to be a member of the Cabinet and was thus removed from the line of succession.[14]
Secretary of Homeland Security added 2006[edit]
The United States Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002. On March 9, 2006, pursuant to the renewal of the Patriot Act as Pub.L. 109–177, the Secretary of Homeland Security was added to the line of succession. The order of Cabinet members in the line has always been the same as the order in which their respective departments were established. Despite custom, many in Congress had wanted the Secretary to be placed at number eight on the list – below the Attorney General, above the Secretary of the Interior, and in the position held by the Secretary of the Navy prior to the creation of the Secretary of Defense – because the Secretary, already in charge of disaster relief and security, would presumably be more prepared to take over the presidency than some of the other Cabinet secretaries.[citation needed] Despite this, the 2006 law explicitly specifies that the "Secretary of Homeland Security" follows the "Secretary of Veterans Affairs" in the succession, effectively at the end of the list.[15]
Successions beyond Vice President[edit]
David Rice Atchison's tombstone (Plattsburg, Missouri), including the claim "President of the United States for One Day"
While nine Vice Presidents have succeeded to the office upon the death or resignation of the President, and two Vice Presidents have temporarily served as acting President, no other officer has ever been called upon to act as President. On March 4, 1849, President Zachary Taylor's term began, but he declined to be sworn in on a Sunday, citing religious beliefs, and the Vice President was not sworn either. As the last President pro tempore of the Senate, David Rice Atchison was thought by some to be next in line after the Vice President, and his tombstone claims that he was US President for the day. However, Atchison took no oath of office to the presidency either, and his term as Senate President pro tempore had by then expired.[16][17]
In 1865, when Andrew Johnson assumed the Presidency on the death of Abraham Lincoln, the office of Vice President became vacant. At that time, the Senate President pro tempore was next in line to the presidency. In 1868, Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives and subjected to trial in the Senate, and if he had been convicted and thereby removed from office, Senate President pro tempore Benjamin Wade would have become acting President. This posed a conflict of interest, as Wade's "guilty" vote could have been decisive in removing Johnson from office and giving himself presidential powers and duties. (Johnson was acquitted by a one-vote margin.)
In his book The Shadow Presidents, which he published in 1979, Michael Medved describes a situation that arose prior to the 1916 election, when the First World War was raging in Europe. In view of the contemporary international turmoil, President Woodrow Wilson thought that if he lost the election it would be better for his opponent to begin his administration straight away, instead of waiting through the lame duck period, which at that time had a duration of almost four months. President Wilson and his aides formed a plan to exploit the rule of succession so that his rival Charles Evans Hughes could take over the Presidency as soon as the result of the election was clear. The plan was that Wilson would appoint Hughes to the post of Secretary of State. Wilson and his Vice President Thomas R. Marshall would then resign, and as the Secretary of State was at that time designated next in line of succession, Hughes would become President immediately. As it happened, President Wilson won re-election, so the plan was never put into action.[18]
New President Gerald Ford is sworn in following the resignation of Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974.
Since the 25th Amendment's ratification, its Second Section, which addresses Vice Presidential succession as noted above, has been invoked twice.
During the 1973 Vice Presidential vacancy, House Speaker Carl Albert was first in line. As the Watergate scandal made President Nixon's removal or resignation possible, Albert would have become Acting President and—under Title 3, Section 19(c) of the U.S. Code—would have been able to "act as President until the expiration of the then current Presidential term" on January 20, 1977. Albert openly questioned whether it was appropriate for him, a Democrat, to assume the powers and duties of the presidency when there was a public mandate for the Presidency to be held by a Republican. Albert announced that should he need to assume the Presidential powers and duties, he would do so only as a caretaker. However, with the nomination and confirmation of Gerald Ford to the Vice Presidency, which marked the first time the Second Section of the Twenty-fifth Amendment was invoked, these series of events were never tested. Albert again became first-in-line during the first four months of Ford's Presidency, before the confirmation of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller,[citation needed] which marked the second time Section 2 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment was invoked.
In 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was shot, Vice President George H. W. Bush was traveling in Texas. Secretary of State Alexander Haig responded to a reporter's question regarding who was running the government by stating:
Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of State in that order, and should the President decide he wants to transfer the helm to the Vice President, he will do so. He has not done that. As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the Vice President and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.[19]
A bitter dispute ensued over the meaning of Haig's remarks. Most people believed that Haig was referring to the line of succession and erroneously claimed to have temporary Presidential authority, due to his implied reference to the Constitution. Haig and his supporters, noting his familiarity with the line of succession from his time as White House Chief of Staff during Richard Nixon's resignation, said he only meant that he was the highest-ranking officer of the Executive branch on-site, managing things temporarily until the Vice President returned to Washington.[citation needed]
Constitutional concerns[edit]
Several constitutional law experts have raised questions as to the constitutionality of the provisions that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate succeed to the presidency.[20] James Madison, one of the authors of the Constitution, raised similar constitutional questions about the Presidential Succession Act of 1792 in a 1792 letter to Edmund Pendleton.[21] Two of these issues can be summarized:
The term "Officer" in the relevant clause of the Constitution is most plausibly interpreted to mean an "Officer of the United States", who must be a member of the Executive or Judicial Branch. The Speaker and the President pro tempore are not officers in this sense.
Under the principle of separation of powers, the Constitution specifically disallows legislative officials from also serving in the executive branch. For the Speaker or the Senate President pro tempore to become Acting President, they must resign their position, at which point they are no longer in the line of succession. This is seen by some to form a constitutional paradox. However, the current Act specifies that the Speaker becomes President "upon his resignation as Speaker" and as a member of Congress,[22] allowing for a seamless transition.
In 2003 the Continuity of Government Commission suggested that the current law has "at least seven significant issues ... that warrant attention", specifically:[23]
The reality that all figures in the current line of succession work and reside in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. In the event of a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack, it is possible that everyone on the list would be killed or incapacitated.
Doubt (such as those expressed above by James Madison) that congressional leaders are eligible to act as President.
A concern about the wisdom of including the President pro tempore in the line of succession as the "largely honorific post traditionally held by the longest-serving Senator of the majority party". For example, from January 20, 2001, to June 6, 2001, the President pro tempore was then-98-year-old Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.
A concern that the current line of succession can force the presidency to abruptly switch parties mid-term, as the President, Speaker, and the President pro tempore are not necessarily of the same party as each other.
A concern that the succession line is ordered by the dates of creation of the various executive departments, without regard to the skills or capacities of the persons serving as their Secretary.
The fact that, should a Cabinet member begin to act as President, the law allows the House to elect a new Speaker (or the Senate, a new President pro tempore), who could in effect remove the Cabinet member and assume the office themselves at any time.
The absence of a provision where a President is disabled and the vice presidency is vacant (for example, if an assassination attempt simultaneously wounded the President and killed the Vice President).
See also[edit]
Central Locator System
Designated survivor
List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots
United States presidential line of succession in fiction
References[edit]
Jump up ^ 3 U.S.C. § 19
Jump up ^ "Is the Presidential Succession Law Constitutional?", Akhil Reed Amar, Stanford Law Review, November 1995.
Jump up ^ First Report p. 4, continuityofgovernment.org Retrieved December 28, 2010 via Internet Archive to repair dead link
Jump up ^ Wilson, Reid (October 20, 2013). "The Presidential order of succession". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ "The Continuity of the Presidency," Continuity of Government Commission, June 2009, p. 34. (Archived by WebCite at [1] Accessed: 2012-05-23)
Jump up ^ "Special Message to the Congress on the Succession to the Presidency. June 19, 1945" by President Harry S. Truman; from the American Presidency Project archives
^ Jump up to: a b Wildavsky, Aaron B. (2003). Horowitz, Irving, ed. The revolt against the masses and other essays on politics and public policy (Google Books). Transaction Publishers. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-7658-0960-5. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
Jump up ^ "kipnotes.com - Nachrichten zum trading -". kipnotes.com - Nachrichten zum trading.
^ Jump up to: a b c Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. (Autumn 1974). "On the Presidential Succession". Political Science Quarterly. 89 (3): 475, 495–496. JSTOR 2148451.
^ Jump up to: a b c Rankin, Robert S. (Feb 1946). "Presidential Succession in the United States". The Journal of Politics. 8 (1): 44–56. JSTOR 2125607. doi:10.2307/2125607.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Abbott, Philip (Dec 2005). "Accidental Presidents: Death, Assassination, Resignation, and Democratic Succession". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 35 (4): 627, 638. JSTOR 27552721. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2005.00269.x.
Jump up ^ Crapol, Edward P. (2006). John Tyler: the accidental president. UNC Press Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-8078-3041-3. OCLC 469686610.
Jump up ^ Lewis, Charlton Thomas; Willsey, Joseph H. (1895). Harper's Book of Facts: a Classified History of the World; Embracing Science, Literature, and Art. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 884. LCCN 01020386. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
Jump up ^ "U.S. Postmasters General". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ US Congress (2005). USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act OF 2005. 109th Congress Public Law 177. Retrieved on October 29, 2015 from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-109publ177/html/PLAW-109publ177.htm.
Jump up ^ "1801: President for a Day -- March 4, 1849". May 29, 2014.
Jump up ^ David Mikkelson (October 8, 2007). "President for a Day". snopes.
Jump up ^ Medved, Michael (1979). The Shadow Presidents: The Secret History of the Chief Executives and Their Top Aides. New York, U.S.A.: Times Books. p. 149. ISBN 0-8129-0816-3.
Jump up ^ "Alexander Haig", Time, April 2, 1984
Jump up ^ "Is the Presidential Succession Law Constitutional?", Akhil Reed Amar, Stanford Law Review, November 1995.
Jump up ^ "Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6: James Madison to Edmund Pendleton".
Jump up ^ Wikisource:Presidential Succession Act 1947
Jump up ^ First Report p. 4, continuityofgovernment.org Retrieved December 28, 2010 via Internet Archive to repair dead link
Further reading[edit]
Ask Gleaves: Presidential Succession from the website of Grand Valley State University
3 U.S.C. § 19 – "Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act"
Presidential Succession Act of 1792, 1 Stat. 239 (from the American Memory website of the Library of Congress
"Presidential Line of Succession Examined", a September 20, 2003 article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"WI Presidential Succession Act of 1947 held unconstitutional", David Tenner, Usenet group: soc.history.what-if, January 14, 2003.
Fools, Drunkards, & Presidential Succession from the Federalist Society website
Testimony of M. Miller Baker from the U.S. Senate website
External links[edit]
The Presidency: Preserving Our Institutions Second report of the Continuity of Government Commission, June 2009 (includes the text of the Presidential Succession Acts of 1792, 1886 and 1947)
[show]
v
t
e
Presidential line of succession in the United States of America
Vice President (Mike Pence)
Speaker of the House of Representatives (Paul Ryan)
President pro tempore of the Senate (Orrin Hatch)
Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson)
Secretary of the Treasury (Steven Mnuchin)
Secretary of Defense (James Mattis)
Attorney General (Jeff Sessions)
Secretary of the Interior (Ryan Zinke)
Secretary of Agriculture (Sonny Perdue)
Secretary of Commerce (Wilbur Ross)
Secretary of Labor (Alex Acosta)
Secretary of Health and Human Services (Eric Hargan)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Ben Carson)
Secretary of Transportation (Elaine Chao[b])
Secretary of Energy (Rick Perry)
Secretary of Education (Betsy DeVos)
Secretary of Veterans Affairs (David Shulkin)
Secretary of Homeland Security (Elaine Duke)
Jump up ^ Never confirmed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and thus ineligible for the presidential line of succession.
Jump up ^ Although Elaine Chao is the current Secretary of Transportation, she is not a natural-born citizen (acquired U.S. citizenship by naturalization) and thus ineligible for the Presidency.
[show]
v
t
e
Lists related to the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States
List of Presidents
List of Vice Presidents
Presidents
Age
Autobiographies
Birth
Burial places
Death
Historical rankings
Lifespan timeline
Number living
Time in office
Pension and benefits
Portraits
Professional
careers
Approval rating
Assassination attempts and plots
Campaign slogans
Control of Congress
Doctrines
Inaugurations
International trips
Judicial appointments
Libraries
Military rank
Military service
Other offices held
Pardons
Previous experience
Vetoes
Personal life
Coats of arms
Deaths in office
Education
Facial hair
Firsts
Multilingualism
Net worth
Nicknames
Pets
Home state
Previous occupation
Religious affiliation
Residences
Slave owners
Vice Presidents
Age
Coats of arms
Education
Number living
Other offices held
Place of primary affiliation
Religious affiliation
Tie-breaking votes
Time in office
Succession
Acting President
Designated survivor
Line of succession
Elections
Electoral College margin
Popular vote margin
Summary
Winner lost popular vote
Candidates
Democrat
Republican
Third party
Progressive
National Republican/Whig
African American
Female
Received at least one electoral vote
Height
Lost their home state
Families
First Families
First Ladies
Second Ladies
Children
Namesakes, honors
Memorial sites
U.S. postage stamp appearances
Educational institution names
Currency appearances
U.S. county names
U.S. Senate vice presidential bust collection
In fiction
Presidents
actors
Vice Presidents
actors
Candidates
Line of succession
US Government Portal • Biography Portal • Presidents of the United States
[show]
v
t
e
Orders of succession
Monarchies
Bahrain
Belgium
Bhutan
Brunei
Denmark
Japan
Jordan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Monaco
Morocco
Netherlands
Norway
Saudi Arabia
Spain
Swaziland
Sweden
Thailand
Tonga
United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms
Presidencies
Argentina
Austria
Brazil
Colombia
D.R. Congo
Dominican Republic
France
Finland
Germany
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
South Korea
Mexico
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
United States
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_presidential_line_of_succession&oldid=808069295"
Categories:
United States presidential succession
Continuity of government in the United States
Vice Presidency of the United States
Hidden categories:
Use mdy dates from November 2016
All articles that may contain original research
Articles that may contain original research from March 2015
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from July 2009
Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2008
All articles containing potentially dated statements
Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
العربية
Беларуская
Български
Čeština
Deutsch
Eesti
فارسی
Français
한국어
Italiano
עברית
日本語
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Simple English
Svenska
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 31 October 2017, at 18:05.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: b

attrs: href title

attrs: href class title

values: House of Representatives of the United States

values:
/wiki/Senate_of_the_United_States
mw-redirect
Senate of the United States

value: sup

values: Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

values: President pro tempore of the United States Senate

values: United States federal executive departments

values: United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

values: United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

values: United States Secretary of Transportation

values: United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs

values: United States Secretary of Homeland Security

values: List of positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation

values: Article Two of the United States Constitution

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: lower-alpha;

values: United States Department of Health and Human Services

values: Natural born citizen of the United States

values: Edit section: Motivation for changes to the succession in 1945

values:
/wiki/Joseph_W._Martin
mw-redirect
Joseph W. Martin

values:
/wiki/Edward_R._Stettinius,_Jr.
mw-redirect
Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.

values: Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Edit section: Acting President and President

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: Oath of office of the President of the United States

values:
/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination
mw-redirect
John F. Kennedy assassination

values: Article One of the United States Constitution

values: The material near this tag possibly contains original research. (March 2015)

values: Edit section: History of succession law set by Congress

values: Edit section: Presidential Succession Act 1792

values: wikisource:Presidential Succession Act 1792

values: Edit section: Presidential Succession Act 1886

values: wikisource:Presidential Succession Act 1886

values:
/wiki/United_States_Cabinet
mw-redirect
United States Cabinet

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2009)

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

values: Edit section: Presidential Succession Act 1947

values: wikisource:Presidential Succession Act 1947

values:
plainlinks noprint asof-tag update
display:none;

values: Edit section: Postmaster General removed 1971

values: Edit section: Secretary of Homeland Security added 2006

values: United States Department of Homeland Security

values:
nofollow
external text
http://legislink.org/us/pl-109-177

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2015)

values: Edit section: Successions beyond Vice President

values: United States presidential election, 1916

values:
/wiki/U.S._Secretary_of_State
mw-redirect
U.S. Secretary of State

values:
/wiki/Reagan_assassination_attempt
mw-redirect
Reagan assassination attempt

values: United States presidential line of succession in fiction

values:
/wiki/Akhil_Reed_Amar
mw-redirect
Akhil Reed Amar

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.worldcat.org/issn/0190-8286

values:
nofollow
external autonumber
https://www.webcitation.org/67sZJhkHR

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/2148451

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/2125607

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.2307%2F2125607

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/27552721

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.worldcat.org/oclc/469686610

values:
nofollow
external text
//lccn.loc.gov/01020386

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values: Template:US Presidential Line of Succession

values: Template talk:US Presidential Line of Succession

values: United States presidential line of succession

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Template:Lists of US Presidents and Vice Presidents

values: Template talk:Lists of US Presidents and Vice Presidents

values: List of Vice Presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by age

values: List of autobiographies by presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by date and place of birth

values: List of burial places of Presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by date of death

values: Historical rankings of presidents of the United States

values: Lifespan timeline of Presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by time in office

values: Portraits of Presidents of the United States

values: United States presidential approval rating

values: List of U.S. presidential campaign slogans

values: Presidents of the United States and control of Congress

values: List of United States presidential inaugurations

values: List of international trips made by the President of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by judicial appointments

values: List of United States Presidential libraries

values: List of presidents of the United States by military rank

values: List of Presidents of the United States by military service

values: List of Presidents of the United States by other offices held

values: List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the President of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by previous experience

values: List of United States presidential vetoes

values: List of personal coats of arms of Presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States who died in office

values: List of Presidents of the United States by education

values: List of Presidents of the United States with facial hair

values: List of United States Presidential firsts

values: List of multilingual presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by net worth

values: List of nicknames of Presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States by home state

values: List of Presidents of the United States by occupation

values: Religious affiliations of Presidents of the United States

values: List of residences of Presidents of the United States

values: List of Presidents of the United States who owned slaves

values: List of Vice Presidents of the United States by age

values: List of personal coats of arms of Vice Presidents of the United States

values: List of Vice Presidents of the United States by education

values: Living Vice Presidents of the United States

values: List of Vice Presidents of the United States by other offices held

values: List of Vice Presidents of the United States by place of primary affiliation

values: List of Vice Presidents of the United States by religious affiliation

values: List of tie-breaking votes cast by vice presidents of the United States

values: List of Vice Presidents of the United States by time in office

values: List of United States presidential elections by Electoral College margin

values: List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin

values: United States presidential election summary

values: United States presidential elections in which the winner lost the popular vote

values: List of United States presidential candidates

values: List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets

values: List of United States Republican Party presidential tickets

values: List of United States major third party presidential tickets (1789–1860)

values: List of United States Progressive Party presidential tickets

values: List of United States National Republican/Whig Party presidential tickets

values: List of African-American United States presidential and vice presidential candidates

values: List of female United States presidential and vice-presidential candidates

values: List of people who received an electoral vote in the United States Electoral College

values: Heights of presidents and presidential candidates of the United States

values: List of major-party United States presidential candidates who lost their birth or resident state

values: List of First Ladies of the United States

values: List of children of the Presidents of the United States

values: Presidential memorials in the United States

values: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps

values: List of educational institutions named after U.S. presidents

values: List of Presidents of the United States on currency

values: List of U.S. counties named after U.S. Presidents

values: United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection

values: Lists of fictional presidents of the United States

values: List of actors who played the President of the United States

values: List of fictional Vice Presidents of the United States

values: List of actors who played the Vice President of the United States

values: List of fictional United States presidential candidates

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Template:Orders of succession by country

values: Template talk:Orders of succession by country

values: Line of succession to the Bahraini throne

values: Line of succession to the Belgian throne

values: Line of succession to the Bhutanese throne

values: Line of succession to the Bruneian throne

values: Line of succession to the Japanese throne

values: Line of succession to the Jordanian throne

values: Line of succession to the Liechtensteiner throne

values: Line of succession to the Luxembourger throne

values: Line of succession to the Malaysian throne

values: Line of succession to the Moroccan throne

values: Brazilian presidential line of succession

values: President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

values: Dominican presidential line of succession

values: Line of succession to the President of Pakistan

values: Peruvian presidential line of succession

values: Philippine presidential line of succession

values: Portuguese presidential line of succession

values: Sri Lankan presidential line of succession

values: Category:United States presidential succession

values: Category:Continuity of government in the United States

values: Category:Vice Presidency of the United States

values: Category:Use mdy dates from November 2016

values: Category:All articles that may contain original research

values: Category:Articles that may contain original research from March 2015

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from July 2009

values: Category:Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2008

values: Category:All articles containing potentially dated statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

values: خط الخلافة الرئاسية في الولايات المتحدة – Arabic

values: Наследаванне прэзідэнцкіх паўнамоцтваў у ЗША – Belarusian

values: Поредност на заместниците на президента на САЩ – Bulgarian

values: Nástupnictví na úřad prezidenta Spojených států amerických – Czech

values: Nachfolge des Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten – German

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-de badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle

values: Ameerika Ühendriikide presidendijärjekord – Estonian

values: خط جانشینی ریاست جمهوری ایالات متحده آمریکا – Persian

values: Ordre de succession présidentielle des États-Unis – French

values: 미국 대통령 계승순위 – Korean

values: Linea di successione presidenziale negli Stati Uniti d'America – Italian

values: סדר הירושה של נשיא ארצות הברית – Hebrew

values: アメリカ合衆国大統領の継承順位 – Japanese

values: Linia sukcesji prezydenckiej (Stany Zjednoczone) – Polish

values: Linha de sucessão presidencial dos Estados Unidos – Portuguese

values: Actuala listă a liniei de succesiune prezidențiale SUA, 2006 – Romanian

values: Наследование президентских полномочий в США – Russian

values: U.S. Presidential line of succession – Simple English

values: Successionsordningen för USA:s president – Swedish

values: ลำดับการสืบทอดตำแหน่งประธานาธิบดีสหรัฐอเมริกา – Thai

values: Amerika Birleşik Devletleri başkanlık yerini alma sırası – Turkish

values: Лінія наступності президентських повноважень у США – Ukrainian

values: Thứ tự kế vị Tổng thống Hoa Kỳ – Vietnamese

values: 美國總統繼任順序 – Chinese

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-United_States_presidential_line_of_succession rootpage-United_States_presidential_line_of_succession vector-experimental-print-styles vector-nav-directionality skin-vector action-view