Members of the Continental Congress who wrote the Constitution wanted to prevent the possible misuse of authority by the federal government. So they divided the power between
three branches of government: (1) the executive branch (the president); (2) the legislative or 220
Congressional branch (the Senate and House of Representatives); and (3) the judicial branch
(the Supreme Court). A system of checks and balances among these three branches was 254
designed to keep each part of the federal government from becoming too powerful.
Powers 22
In the left-hand column below is a list of powers for each branch of government. The checks 109
and balances that restrain each branch are listed in the righthand column. Your task is to
match each statement with the correct branch of government. In the blanks, write E for
executive branch, L for legislative branch, and J for judicial branch.
Powers
Checks and Balances
1. administers the laws
17. may disapprove treaties
2. writes the laws
18. may disapprove presidential
3. interprets the laws
4. confirms pres
appointments to the Supreme
ntial appointments
Court
5. appoints ambassadors, judges, 19. may disapprove appointments
and other officials
of government officials
6. negotiates treaties
_20. may declare laws
7. ratifies treaties
unconstitutional
8. appropriates money,
9. conducts foreign policy
-21. may impeach the president
_22. may veto bills
10.
proposes laws
2 11. reviews court decisions
-23. may override a veto
24.
may
declare executive actions
12. commands armed forces
13. declares war
unconstitutional
225. may impeach Supreme Court
14. can amend the Constitution
judges
15. manages
the
government
_26. may propose Constitutional
16.
passes taxes
amendments to overrule
judicial decisions
_27. appoints Supreme Court
judges
_28. grants pardons
_29. can charge the president with
wrongdoing
EXECUTIVE
OD
LEGISL
JUDICIALS