History quiz on branches of government

Question 1

Checks and Balances

Answer 1

Each branch has certain ways to check or limit the power of the others to prevent any abuse of government power.

Question 2

Federalism

Answer 2

Power is divided between the federal (national) government and state / local governments.

Question 3

Limited Government

Answer 3

Government powers are restricted by a written constitution.

Question 4

Republicanism (Representative Democracy)

Answer 4

The people vote to elect leaders to represent their interests.

Question 5

Separation of Powers

Answer 5

Powers and responsibilities are divided between three government branches to prevent any one person or group from having too much power.

Question 6

Identify at least one way each branch of government can check or limit another branch of government

Answer 6

Judicial can check the Legislative by ruling a law unconstitutional.
Legislative can check the Executive by impeaching the President.
Executive can check the Judicial by nominating Justices.

Question 7

Congress

Answer 7

The House and Senate combined is called Congress

Question 8

Fillibuster

Answer 8

It is when a Senator delays the voting through speaking for extended periods of time, preventing voting from occurring. However, this can be overruled by 60 votes from the Senators. From there, it goes to the voting section.

Question 9

House of Reps

Answer 9

A section of the Legislative Branch that is comprised of 435 reps, with a few from each state, and proportional representation. These representatives are elected, with the states with more pop having more reps, and vice versa. Texas has more than MA for example because of this.

Question 10

Senate

Answer 10

The upper section of the Legislative Branch, and the more powerful one. This section is comprised of 100 Senators, two from each state. They discuss a wide variety of topics, such as making bills into laws and impeaching the President.

Question 11

Political Parties

Answer 11

Groups of people who share similar beliefs about how the government should be run and how the country’s issues should be solved.

Question 12

Veto

Answer 12

This is an ability that the President has which allows him or her to stop, or veto a law from being passed. This can be overruled by a 2/3 majority vote in Congress.

Question 13

Identify the main function of the Legislative Branch

Answer 13

The main function of the Legislative Branch is to pass, or create laws. Other functions include declaring war and impeaching the President.

Question 14

Identify three of major powers/responsibilities of Congress

Answer 14

1. Passing laws
2. Impeaching the President
   3.

Question 15

Describe the process of creating a law

Answer 15

To create a law, a Senator or House of reps member has to present it in the form of a bill to the House of Reps. From there, Committees related to the bill will review it. If the committees approve it, then the whole House will vote on it. If it passes, then the committees in the Senate will review it, then send it to the Senate to vote. If it passes, it goes back to the House to be voted on because of the changes and if the House passes it, then the President needs to sign off on it. He can either veto it, killing the bill, or he can approve it, at which point, it will become a law.

Question 16

Cabinet

Answer 16

A group of people who advise the President on issues related tot ehir areas of expertise.

Question 17

Electoral College

Answer 17

Each state has a number of votes, equal to their combined representatives in Congress (2 Senators and how many ever House of Reps members that state has).

Question 18

Executive Order

Answer 18

An order that is passed by the President without the approval of Congress. A president can issue how ever many he wants, but they can be overruled if the Supreme Court votes that they are unconstitutional.

Question 19

President

Answer 19

The head of the Executive Branch. The President has limited power, but is still powerful, and can veto bills and appoint judges, among other things. He is elected through the people, and has to get at least 270 Electoral votes to become president.

Question 20

Safe State

Answer 20

A state that traditionally favors one party, or consistently votes for one party.

Question 21

Swing state

Answer 21

A state that is unpredictable, and can go to either party.

Question 22

Vice President

Answer 22

Serves under the president, and is the tie braking vote in the Senate, as well as the acting president if the current president dies.

Question 23

Winner-Take-All

Answer 23

The candidate who wins the popular vote wins all of the Electoral votes from that state. With a total of 538 Electoral votes, a candidate needs to win more than half, or at least 270 to win the presidency. The two exceptions to this are Nebraska and Maine, which do not have winner-take-all, and instead, are divided into sections. The winner of that section get the votes from just that section, meaning both candidates can get Electoral votes from one state.

Question 24

Identify the main function of the Executive Branch

Answer 24

The main function of the Executive Branch is to carry out the laws. Other functions include negotiating with other countries and being the heads of different departments.

Question 24

Identify three of the major powers/responsibilities of the president

Answer 24

1. Propose Legislation 2. Veto bills/sign bills into law 3. Issuing Executive Orders

Question 25

Describe the process of becoming the president of the U.S.

Answer 25

First, the president needs to become the official candidate of their party by beating the other party's candidates in pre-election rounds. If they win those, then they go on to become the party's candidate, at which they then have to fight the other party's candidate for electoral seats. If they win 270 or more electoral seats, then the candidate becomes the president of the U.S.

Question 26

Supreme Court

Answer 26

The head of the Judaical Branch, which is also the supreme law of the land, and they traditionally accept about 80 cases per year. They will usually take the cases that relate to, or object, the Constitution.

Question 27

Trial Courts

Answer 27

Called a District court in the federal system. A jury or judge hears the case and reviews evidence to decide who is right. If the losing side believes there has been an error, they can make an appeal - requesting a higher court to review the verdict (decision).

Question 28

Appellate Courts

Answer 28

The second layer is called the Court of Appeals (or Appellate Courts) which reviews the trial court decision and determines if a legal error was made. Most Court of Appeals cases are heard by a panel of three judges (instead of one), and there is no jury. Lower courts must follow their decision.

Question 29

Judicial Review

Answer 29

The ability for the Supreme Court to review a case, and then state it as either Constitutional, or unconstitutional.

Question 30

Identify the main functions of the Judicial Branch

Answer 30

1. Interprets the law 2. Judicial review 3. Decides whether a law or executive order is Constitutional or not

Question 31

Explain how the appeals process works in the three-layered court system

Answer 31

At the bottom court, if a side loses the case and decides to appeal, that means that they this the lower(or state) court made a decision that was wrong, and the case will be sent to the a State Appellate Court or the U.S. Courts of Appeals. From there, if they would like, they can file a writ of certiorari, asking the Supreme Court or review their case. Or in the case of State Courts, it would go to a State Supreme Court, and then the US Supreme Court.

Question 32

Explain how Marbury Vs. Madison case established Judicial Review.

Answer 32

Marbury Vs. Madison was a case that went like this. A new president (Thomas Jefferson) just took office and the previous president had asked him to hand over these papers to the next people who would become judges in the Judicial Branch. Jefferson did not want to do this because the future judges were not apart of his party, so he never sent the letters. Marbury, one of the future judges, was mad about this, so he went to the Supreme Court and told them to make Jefferson hand over the papers. The Supreme Court said that they agree that Jefferson SHOULD hand over the papers, but they did not actually have the ability to make him. So because of this case, Judical Review was created. This case created it because from this point on, the Court would decide whether a law is constitutional, or unconstitutional. In other words, he ruled that whenever a law was in conflict with the Constitution, the Constitution must be upheld. This was the first time the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional, establishing the power of judicial review.

Question 33

Describe the two parts of the Supreme Court ruling (decision and opinion).

Answer 33

The decision and the opinion. A decision is reached by the majority vote of the nine justices. The opinion is a published written document that explains the reasoning for their decision.