Government Checks And Balances

The United States government is made up of three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. In order to make sure no branch has too much power, the government uses a system of checks and balances. Each branch checks the other, all the branches work together. Examples of these checks and balances are found everywhere and in almost every decision made by our government. The main job of the legislative branch is to write and vote on laws. The legislative branch also must check the other branches. When congress sends a bill to be enacted into a law, the president can veto that bill. However, the legislative branch can check the executive by overriding that veto and creating the law without the president’s consent. Although, this is difficult because congress needs a ⅔ vote. An example of this was on the 7th and 8th of July in 1856 when Franklin Pierce was in office and the 49th Congress was in session. The bill was to make appropriations for deepening the channel over the St.

Just as the other branches check the judicial branch, the judicial branch checks the executive and legislative. The supreme court can declare laws congress passes unconstitutional. This happened in 1954 during the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. The Supreme court ruled that, in public schools, the idea separate but equal should not be practiced. While the president appoints the judges of the Supreme court, congress creates the lower courts and can remove judges through impeachments. The only judge that has been impeached was Samuel Chase, but he remained in office due to a vote of the senate. In conclusion, checks and balances are what help make our government run smoothly. Without this system, it would be much more possible that our government could result in a tyranny, with one branch having much more power than the other. That is why our system of checks and balances are so important to our