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This article is part of the series
Politics and government of
the United States The United States Cabinet (usually referred to as the President's Cabinet or simplified as the Cabinet) is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. Its existence dates back to the first American President, George Washington, who appointed a Cabinet of four people (Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; Secretary of War Henry Knox; and Attorney General Edmund Randolph) to advise and assist him in his duties. Cabinet officers are nominated by the President and then presented to the United States Senate for confirmation or rejection by a simple majority. If approved, they are sworn in and begin their duties. Aside from the Attorney General, and previously, the Postmaster General, they all receive the title Secretary. Members of the Cabinet serve at the pleasure of the President, which means the President may remove them at will. Later, upon the ratification of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, a provision was created allowing the Vice-President and "a majority of the principal officers" of the executive branch departments to transmit a notice (to the Speaker of the House and the U.S. Senate's President pro tempore) that the President is unfit for office. If the President contests this finding, then the U.S. Congress is directed to settle the matter. U.S. Cabinet nominees are chosen from a very large pool of potential candidates. One of the few qualification restrictions is set out in the Ineligibility Clause of Article One of the Federal Constitution "no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office." Accordingly, a sitting member of the U.S. Congress must resign from his/her seat in Congress to accept a Cabinet appointment. This clause also bars any member of Congress from holding an executive office that was created by law during his/her current term in Congress.
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