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🗽 US History · A New Nation

Checks and Balances: notes and common mistakes

Study notes

Key ideas

  • Separation of powers divides government among three branches: Congress makes laws, the President carries them out, and the federal courts decide cases and say what the law means.
  • Checks and balances gives each branch tools to limit the others, so that no branch can dominate.
  • Main checks: veto and override (two-thirds of each house), Senate confirmation of appointments, Senate approval of treaties (two-thirds of the senators present), the power of the purse, impeachment (House charges, Senate tries, two-thirds of the senators present convict), judicial review, pardons, and amendments.
  • Judicial review means courts can decide that laws or government actions violate the Constitution. Marbury v. Madison (1803) is the case associated with it.
  • The framers feared concentrated power. Montesquieu argued for dividing the powers of government, and Madison argued in Federalist No. 51 that each branch's wish to protect its own power can be used as a safeguard.
  • Checks and balances is about the branches of the national government. Federalism is about sharing power between the national government and the states.

Steps

  1. To trace a bill: both houses of Congress pass it, then the President signs or vetoes it. (If the President does neither within ten days, Sundays excepted, the bill becomes law if Congress is in session, but dies in a pocket veto if Congress has adjourned.)
  2. After a veto: Congress can override with two-thirds of each house, and the bill becomes law without the President's signature.
  3. After it becomes law: the executive branch carries it out.
  4. If someone challenges the law in a real case: courts can use judicial review.
  5. To answer a court's constitutional ruling: an amendment (two-thirds of both houses propose, three-fourths of the states ratify).

Watch out

  • The President cannot make laws. Congress does. The President signs or vetoes bills.
  • The Supreme Court cannot start a case on its own. Someone must bring a real dispute.
  • A veto is not final. Congress can override it with two-thirds of each house.
  • Impeachment is a charge, not removal. The Senate must convict, with two-thirds of the senators present.
  • “Check” does not mean “boss.” Each branch has powers over the others, but none controls all the rest.
  • A pardon covers federal offenses, not state crimes.
  • Do not mix up checks and balances (between branches) with federalism (between the nation and the states).

Why it works

  • Knowing how power is divided helps you understand how a bill becomes a law and why government decisions can take time.
  • The design reflects the framers' fear of concentrated power, which was shaped partly by the colonists' experience with Britain.
  • Judicial review and amendments show that the system can change over time, using procedures written in the Constitution.

Common mistakes

✗ MistakeThe President can make laws by signing a bill or by issuing an order.
✓ InsteadOnly Congress makes laws. The President signs or vetoes bills that Congress has passed. Executive orders direct how the executive branch carries out the law, and they must rest on the Constitution or on a law passed by Congress.
✗ MistakeThe Supreme Court can decide to look at any law it wants, whenever it wants.
✓ InsteadCourts act only when a real case is brought by people or groups who are affected. They do not give advice about a law that nobody has challenged.
✗ MistakeA veto kills a bill forever.
✓ InsteadCongress can override a veto with two-thirds of the members voting in each house.
✗ MistakeImpeachment means removal from office.
✓ InsteadImpeachment is the formal charge, brought by the House. An official is removed only if the Senate convicts, with two-thirds of the senators present.
✗ Mistake“Checks and balances” means one branch is the boss of another.
✓ InsteadEach branch has real powers over the others, but in different areas, and none controls all the rest. The power to check goes in several directions.
✗ MistakeChecks and balances and federalism are the same thing.
✓ InsteadChecks and balances divides power among the branches of the national government. Federalism divides power between the national government and the states.
✗ MistakeJudicial review is written in the Constitution in those words.
✓ InsteadThe words are not in the Constitution. The Supreme Court explained the idea in Marbury v. Madison in 1803: when a law conflicts with the Constitution, courts must follow the Constitution.
✗ MistakeA presidential pardon can erase any crime in the country.
✓ InsteadThe pardon power covers federal offenses only. It does not cover crimes under state law.

Teach it back

Explain to a friend how a made-up bill becomes a law and where the checks come in, from Congress to the President to the courts. Say why the framers wanted these checks, and how checks and balances is different from federalism.

Explaining it out loud shows what you really know. Did you…

  • I said that both houses of Congress pass the bill and that the President can sign it or veto it, and I explained how Congress can override a veto (two-thirds of each house).
  • I named at least two more checks, such as Senate confirmation, impeachment or judicial review, and said which branch uses each one.
  • I explained that the framers feared concentrated power, and I said that “check” does not mean “boss.”
  • I explained that federalism divides power between the national government and the states, while checks and balances divides it among the branches.

Your 3-week memory plan

  1. TodayRead the lesson, then try the flashcards.
  2. TomorrowRecall it from memory first, then check.
  3. In 3 daysTake the true/false and practice questions.
  4. In 1 weekMix it with older topics and teach it back.
  5. In 3 weeksA last quick review before it fades.

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