Ella Ward

7.3.17
US History
Unit 2 Graded Assignment
After the Revolutionary War many new americans were fearful of a second
monarchy forming in their newly formed country. This new government consisted of
three branches, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The system of checks and
balances was enacted to ensure that not one group held too much power to lessen the
chances of a monarchy or dictatorship in the United States. Checks and balances was
one of the only ways that the American people felt safe in their new government. This
system gave the people a way to make sure that they weret going to be taken
advantage of by the government. So many were afraid of having one person in power
that that in the Articles of Confederation they didnt have a president, and many fought
to keep it that way when the new Constitution was introduced. The system of checks
and balances ensured that not one group had too much power.
An example of the system in place is how the president can veto acts in congress. If
congress tries to pass laws that the president doesn't think are constitutional the
president can veto a law, but to make sure the president doest over use this power if a
two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress occurs the veto gets overruled and the bill
can still become a law. Even after that the Supreme Court truly has the final say on laws
and can overturn any law that they find to be unconstitutional through the power of
judicial review. The president nor Congress has the power to override Supreme Court
decisions so the way they get their say in the Judicial branch is through electing the
Supreme Court justices. The president chooses nominees that the senate also has to
approve of. Another example of checks and balances is surrounding war. Even though
the president is commander in chief of the military only Congress can officially declare
war. Not only that, but Congress also is allowed to pay for military expenses so even if
the president tries to launch a military strike, if Congress doesnt agree with it they can
decide not to fund it and the strike will go nowhere. These examples of checks and
balances truly show how the Founding Fathers tried extremely hard to assure that no
one person or branch would have too much power in the government.