Constitutional Convention Part 2

How did you do answering the Activate Prior Knowledge question How did you do answering the Activate Prior Knowledge question? If you responded to the question by saying that the framers divided the national government into three branches because they wanted to prevent tyranny or the abuse of power by one person or group then you were correct! By now, you should have a pretty good understanding of the three branches of government. If you feel like you do not have a strong grasp of the Judicial Branch – don’t worry – we will spend ample (a good amount) of time on discussing the Supreme Court in the near future! Yay!

Constitutional Principle #5: Checks and Balances According to this principle, each branch of the federal government has some way to check, control, the other two branches. Example: Passing A Law (Bill) Congress or the Legislative Branch passes the law The President or Executive Branch can check the power of Congress by vetoing, or rejecting the bill. The Supreme Court checks the power of Congress by reviewing laws. If a law violates the Constitution, the Court can declare the law unconstitutional. Dividing the national government into three branches was successful in distributing the power, but the framers needed to come up with a way to prevent one branch of government from gaining too much power. So, the framers decided to set up a system of checks and balances. Each branch can check, or control, the power of the two branches.