The Constitution Study Questions

#1

Executive Powers

· Approves or vetoes federal bills

· Carries out federal laws

· Appoints judges and other high officials

· Makes foreign treaties

· Can grant pardons and reprieves to federal offenders

· Acts as commander-in-chief of armed forces

Legislative Powers

· Passes federal laws

· Establishes lower federal courts and the number of federal judges

· Can override the president’s veto with two-thirds vote

Judicial Powers

· Interprets and applies the law by trying federal cases

· Can declare laws passed by congress and executive actions unconstitutional.

#2

Checks on Executive Powers

· Congress can override vetoes by two-thirds vote

· Senate can refuse to confirm appointments or ratify treaties

· Congress can impeach and remove the President

· Congress can declare war

· Supreme court can declare executive acts unconstitutional

Checks on Legislative Powers

· Presidential veto of federal bills

· Supreme court can rule laws unconstitutional

· Both houses of congress must vote to pass laws checking power with legislature

Checks on Judicial Powers

· Congress can propose constitutional amendments to overturn judicial decisions

· Congress can impeach and remove federal judges

· President appoints judges

#3

· Two house legislature

· Three-fifths compromise – a slave counted as three-fifths of a person

· Slave trade – they band the slave trade and the northerners agreed that they the congress could not interfere with the southern slave trade until 1808

· George Mason proposed the bill of rights to be included in the constitution.

#4

· James Madison

· Alexander Hamilton

· John Jay

#5

· Protection of individuals’ rights, people were worried the government would get to much power and their rights would be taken away.

#6

· Their worry was that their new constitution would take away the liberties Americans had fought to win from Great Britain. The constitution would create a strong central government and would ignore states and favor the wealthy.