Political institutions

Question 0

Executive branch ?

Answer 0

Branch devoted to executing or applying the laws. At the top: the president and his/her administrators

Question 1

The three branches of gvnt ?

Answer 1

Executive, judicial and legislative

Question 2

Judicial branch?

Answer 2

Branch devoted to interpreting the law. At the top: the American Supreme Court

Question 3

Legislative branch?

Answer 3

Branch devoted to making the laws. Represented by the US Congress

Question 4

What is the Constitution ?

Answer 4

It is the supreme law of the United States. That means that laws voted at the federal or at the state level must all conform to the federal Constitution.
It is a set of rules describing how the United States must be governed, it includes the rights of the people (–> Bill of Rights)

Question 5

What is the Bill of Rights ?

Answer 5

Ten amendments were added to the Constitution in 1791 that delineate the limits of the gvnt’s powers while guaranteeing a number of personal freedoms (esp. the citizen’s natural right of liberty and property).
In addition to the Constitution’s 7 articles and first 10th amendments, only 17 additional amendments have since then been added to the Constitution

Question 6

What is the system “checks and balances”?

Answer 6

The notion “checks and balances” refers to the way the three branches of gvnt have been divised to cooperate but also to exercise mutual control, one over the other and this so that no one branch gvnt dominate the other two

Question 7

How many individual states are there in the US?

Answer 7

There are currently 50 individual, each with their own governments and constitutions

Question 8

What are some of the federal gvnt’s enumerated powers?

Answer 8

the federal gvnt’s enumerated powers include the right to:

• raise taxes at the federal level
• provide for the national defense and declare war
• regulate interstate and foreign commerce

Question 9

What can’t be possible at the state level?

Answer 9

States cannot:

• make treaties and alliiances
• coin money (émettre de l’argent)
• tax imports and exports
• maintain an army nor a navy in peacetime

Question 10

What does ‘reserved powers’ mean?

Answer 10

All powers that are not explicitly granted to the federal government by the Constitution