Checks and Balances

The power of the president to veto laws and the power of the House of Representatives to impeach are examples of

• federalism

• the unwritten constitution

• executive privilege

• checks and balances

The judicial branch of government can check the legislative branch of government by

• vetoing bills passed by Congress

• declaring laws unconstitutional

• calling special sessions of Congress

• reducing congressional budgets

To what expedient [method], then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places. . . .

- The Federalist No. 51, 1788

Which principle of the United States Constitution is most directly described in this passage?

• States rights

• checks and balances

• the elastic clause

• concurrent powers

The United States Constitution provides that federal judges be appointed for life primarily to

• protect judicial decision-making from the influence of political pressure

• provide time for a more thorough investigation of cases

• ensure that judicial decisions are based on precedent

• guarantee that different viewpoints are represented on the Supreme Court

. . . An elective despotism, was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy [governance], as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. . . .

- James Madison, Federalist No. 48, 1788

Which principle of the United States Constitution is supported by this passage?

• representative government

• writ of habeas corpus

• separation of powers

• due process of law

A presidential veto of a bill can be overridden by a

• majority vote of registered voters

• majority vote of the Supreme Court

• two-thirds vote of the state legislatures

• two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress

The Supreme Court can influence the actions of the other two branches of the federal government by

• vetoing legislation

• pardoning criminals

• exercising judicial review

• impeaching the president

"No political truth is certainly of greater intrinsic [essential] value, or is stamped with the authority of more enlightened patrons of liberty, than that on which the objection is founded. 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 elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

- James Madison, The Federalist, Number 47

Which constitutional principle was established to protect American citizens from the tyranny suggested in this quotation?

• due process of law

• States rights

• popular sovereignty

• separation of powers

Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

- Article II, Articles of Confederation

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

- 10th amendment, United States Constitution

The purpose of each of these provisions is to

• determine the division of power between state and central governments

• create a process for allowing amendments

• grant the central government power to control the states

• limit the power of the executive branch

€œ"President Jackson Vetoes Bill Rechartering Bank of United States"

"Taney Court Overturns Missouri Compromise"

"Senate Approves NATO Treaty"

Which concept is best illustrated by these headlines?

• federalism

• direct democracy

• checks and balances

• westward expansion