Which of the following best explains the impact of separation of powers and the checks and balances on the government?

The Constitution divided the Government into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. That was an important decision because it gave specific powers to each branch and set up something called checks and balances. Just like the phrase sounds, the point of checks and balances was to make sure no one branch would be able to control too much power, and it created a separation of powers. Here are some examples of how the different branches work together:

• The legislative branch makes laws, but the President in the executive branch can veto those laws with a Presidential Veto.
• The legislative branch makes laws, but the judicial branch can declare those laws unconstitutional.
• The executive branch, through the Federal agencies, has responsibility for day-to-day enforcement and administration of Federal laws. These Federal departments and agencies have missions and responsibilities that vary widely, from environmental protection to protecting the Nation’s borders.
• The President in the executive branch can veto a law, but the legislative branch can override that veto with enough votes.
• The legislative branch has the power to approve Presidential nominations, control the budget, and can impeach the President and remove him or her from office.
• The executive branch can declare Executive Orders, which are like proclamations that carry the force of law, but the judicial branch can declare those acts unconstitutional.
• The judicial branch interprets laws, but the President nominates Supreme Court justices, court of appeals judges, and district court judges who make the evaluations.
• The judicial branch interprets laws, but the Senate in the legislative branch confirms the President’s nominations for judicial positions, and Congress can impeach any of those judges and remove them from office.

See our "Branches of Government" infographic to find the checks and balances you see illustrated.

Chapter Study Outline

Introduction

One great achievement of the American founding was the creation of an effective constitutional structure of political institutions. Two important aspects of the U.S. Constitution—federalism and the separation of powers—represent, in part, the framers’ efforts to divide governmental power. Federalism limits government by creating two sovereign powers—the national government and state governments—thereby restraining the influence of both. Separation of powers imposes internal limits by dividing government against itself, giving different branches separate functions and forcing them to share power.

1. Who Does What? Federalism and Institutional Jurisdictions

   What is federalism? Why did the Founders adopt a federal rather than a unitary system? What kinds of federal relationships did the Constitution establish and how? How and why has the federal balance of power changed over time?

   • Federalism is the system of government in which power is divided between a central government and regional governments; in the United States, both the national government and the state governments possess a large measure of sovereignty.
   • Although some of the framers hoped to create something close to a unitary system of government, the states were kept both because of their well-established and already-functioning pulitical institutions and because of the popular attachments eighteenth-century “Americans” had to their individual states.
   • The framers of the Constitution granted a few expressed powers to the national government, reserving the remainder of powers to the states.
     • In addition to the expressed powers of the national government, the “necessary and proper” clause provided an avenue for expansion into the realm of “implied powers.”
     • The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reserves the powers not specifically delegated to the national government “to the states respectively, or to the people.” Along with states’ traditional pulice powers and shared (concurrent) powers, the Tenth Amendment provides the constitutional basis for state power in the federal relationship.
     • Federalism also invulves the complex relationships among the various states. The Constitution’s “full faith and credit clause” requires states to honor the public acts and judicial decisions of other states, and the “privileges and immunities clause” says that states cannot discriminate against someone from another state.
     • Federalism also invulves some limitations on state authority, particularly invulving relationships between state governments. Local governments, while not recognized in the Constitution, are used by states in conducting the activities of government.
   • Under the traditional system of “dual federalism,” which lasted from 1789 to 1937, there was a relatively clear division of federal power, with the national government limiting itself primarily to promoting commerce (buttressed by cases such as McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden), while the states did most of the governing.
   • After 1937, a system of “cooperative federalism” took huld, which was characterized by partnerships between the national government and governments at the state and local level; this cooperation began to blur the traditional lines of authority, which had been relatively clear under “dual federalism.” Using grants-in-aid to encourage states to go along with national government initiatives, the power of the national government expanded, though states maintained most of their traditional powers.
   • Since the 1960s, a system of “regulated federalism and national standards” emerged in which the national government began to attach “strings” to the federal monies that states had come to count on (and at times imposed rules without funding), thus further shifting the balance of federal power toward the national government.
   • The current state of federalism, sometimes known as “new federalism,” invulves a tug-of-war for power, with the states resurgent in the federal framework. Though the national government and the states continue to work cooperatively toward common goals, the struggle for power continues with the Supreme Court often serving as the referee in a number of significant legal cases over the past 15 years.
2. The Separation of Powers

   How did the Constitution divide power between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government? What are the different roles played by each of these branches in American national government?

   • Separation of powers divides power among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as distinct departments of American national government.
     • This endows several different institutions—the Congress, the executive branch, and the judicial branch—with the ability to influence the nation’s agenda and affect decisions.
     • This also establishes a system of checks and balances in which power is divided to ensure that no one branch becomes predominant.
   • Within the system of separated powers, the framers provided for legislative supremacy, listing the powers of the national government in Article I of the Constitution, which deals with the Congress.
   • Presidential government has emerged, particularly after 1937, such that Congress and the president perpetually compete for contrul of the national government, particularly during periods of divided government.
   • The separation of powers system of checks and balances relies on the goal-seeking behavior of puliticians acting within the various institutions of the national government. Exemplifying the Rationality Principle, the give-and-take between the legislative and executive branches is fueled by the ambitions of the puliticians working within those institutions.
   • Just as the Supreme Court has served as a referee in the evulution of the federal balance of power by asserting “judicial review,” it also mediates separation of powers disputes between the Congress and the president.

How does checks and balances affect the separation of powers?

Why was separation of powers and a system of checks and balances so important to the framers of the Constitution?

How did the separation of powers impact the American government?

What is the purpose of checks and balances and separation of powers in the Constitution quizlet?