Checks and Balances

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The Founding Fathers were the political leaders who took part in the American Revolution and won American Independence from Great Britain in 1776. They also participated in framing and adopting the Constitution in 1788. They are known in our history books as “The Framers” and are responsible for putting the new government, outlined in the new Constitution into effect. The framers were afraid of majority rule, so they created three separate branches of the government; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. Each branch had their own powers, along with the ability to have some control over the other branches. The three branches ultimately work together to give us the government we know today. The following will explain the responsibilities and restrictions each branch of government are given, and how they ‘check and balance’ each other. The legislative branch is responsible for making laws and includes Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 100 members, two from each state. The house of representatives is made up of 435 members, and the larger the population of the state is, the more representatives it will have. The House and the Senate are also known as Congressional Chambers, and they both have particular exclusive powers. The consent of both chambers is required to pass any legislation. But it can only become law if it is signed by the President. The President has the power to veto a bill though, which will deny the legislation and kick the bill back to Congress. It may then only be passed if 2/3 of both houses of Congress vote to pass the bill. The Executive Branch is explained in Article II of the Constitution. It explains the president’s term of office, the procedure for electi... ... middle of paper ... ...airly neat job of making sure all branches of government were given equal responsibilities and powers, one branch appears to have more than any other. The Legislative branch has the power to make laws, veto laws, start wars and impeach our president. As a country, we must be careful to elect only trusted officials into our Senate. The Framers made sure that with checks and balances, no one branch of government would have more power than the other to ensure that our government would run smoothly for decades on. Works Cited Janda, Kenneth. "2 The Constitution." The Challenge of Democracy Government in America. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print. "The United States Constitution - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net." Index Page - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net. Web. 09 Aug. 2010. .

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