AIM:
Do Now: Analyze the cartoon and answer the questions below:
1. Making foreign policy for the nation is
the primary responsibility of the
1.
2.
3.
4.
President
states
electoral college
Supreme Court
2. What is the main function of the U.S. Congress?
1. to enforce laws of the Supreme Court
2. to set standards for states in meeting their local
problems
3. to judge that laws are constitutional
4. to make national laws for the people
The framers of the Constitution did not want any one branch to abuse the powers they had been given. They
wanted to make sure that the government would be responsive to the people who give it the authority to exist.
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of
one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elected, may justly be pronounced the
very definition of tyranny (the abuse of power).”
-James Madison
1. According to James Madison, what happens when legislative, executive, and judiciary powers are all held by
one person?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Principle 6: Checks & Balances: each branch of government can limit the power of the other branches
Key Vocabulary:
Impeach: to charge an elected
official with wrongdoing
Veto: to reject an act of
Congress
Override: to reverse a
Presidential veto with a 2/3
majority vote
Unconstitutional: violates the
rights and authority defined in
the Constitution
Let’s Practice: Read each situation and write the “check” that the branch indicated would have on the situation:
1. Congress has passed a law forbidding freedom of religion for anyone other than Protestants. What can the
president do to check Congress?
___THE PRESIDENT CAN VETO (REJECT) THE LAW
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. A Supreme Court Justice, appointed for life, accepts a bribe to influence his decision on a case. What can
Congress do to this member of the Supreme Court?
__IMPEACH THE JUDGE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. The President vetoes a law setting up a program for protection of natural resources. Congress thinks it should
still be passed. What can Congress do to check the President?
__OVERRIDE THE VETO NEEDS A 2/3 MAJORITY VOTE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Congress passes laws denying certain tax exemptions to minorities, which others are entitled to receive; the
President signs the law. What can the Courts do to stop the law?
__DECLARE THE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL
The President appoints members of the Supreme
Which action best illustrates the system of checks
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Court and the Senate approves their
and balances in the federal government?
appointment. This illustrates which government
principle.
1. Congress rejects a presidential appointment.
2. The House and Senate pass different versions
1. federalism
of a bill.
2. executive privilege
3. The Supreme Court reverses an earlier
3. checks and balances
decision.
4. minority rights
4. The President fires a member of the Cabinet.


The founding fathers
established the Electoral
College in
the Constitution as a
compromise between
election of the President by
a vote in Congress and
election of the President by
a popular vote of qualified
citizens.
Instead of allowing people
to elect the president
directly, the state
legislatures would choose
electors, who would then
Which provision of the original Constitution shows that the writers did not
completely trust the common voter to make decisions?
1. the Electoral College
2. the veto power of the President
3. direct election of Senators
4. election of Representatives
How to Determine # of Electors per State: #of Senators (2) + #of Representatives (varies)= # of Electors
Based on the map above, how many electors does New York State get?_____________________________________
How many Representatives does New York State have?___________________________________________________

At almost the last minute, the delegates also created the office of vice president, which would go to the
person who came in second in the electoral vote.

All three branches of government can influence which bills, or proposed laws, actually become laws
1. __FIXES THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THE HOUSE AND SENATE VERSIONS OF
THE BILL
2. _OVERRIDE THE VETO WITH 2/3
MAJORITY VOTE IN EACH HOUSE
3. In order for a bill to become a
federal law, who must approve it?
1.
2.
3.
4.
both houses of Congress
the U.S. Supreme Court
either house of Congress
a majority of state legislatures
4. Why do you think the framers of the
Constitution created such a complex
system for creating laws?
THEY DIDN’T WANT ONE PERSON OR
GROUP TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL
GOVERNMENT BY PASSING WHATEVER
LAW THEY WANTED
MAKE SURE ONLY GOOD LAWS WERE
PASSED
Name:__________________________________________
Constitution HW #4
1. The United States Constitution separates the powers of the different branches of the federal
government. The purpose of this separation is to
1.
2.
3.
4.
make government run more economically
prevent too much power from falling into the hands of one group
give states equal power with the federal government
make it easier to pass new laws
2. Which action best illustrates the system of checks and balances?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Congress overrides a Presidential veto
the President negotiates a foreign treaty
a state legislature passes a law
Congress proposes a Constitutional amendment
3. The statement in the U.S. Constitution that the President "shall nominate, by and with the advise
and consent of the Senate" Justices of the Supreme Court illustrates which governmental principle?
1.
2.
3.
4.
federalism
executive privilege
checks and balances
minority rights
4. Which situation best illustrates the principle of checks and balances?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Congress listens to the President's State of the Union address.
A congressional committee kills a bill by majority vote.
The House of Representatives votes to impeach a federal judge.
A congressional committee revises the language of a bill.
5. Which action best illustrates the system of checks and balances in the federal government?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Congress rejects a presidential appointment.
The House and Senate pass different versions of a bill.
The U.S. Supreme Court reverses an earlier decision.
The President fires a member of the Cabinet.
6. The power of impeachment is an illustration of which constitutional principle?
1.
2.
3.
4.
judicial review
reserved powers
executive privilege
checks and balances