Sebastian Bermudez

American Government and Politics – 1/3 term exam

1. What is the meaning of the “separation of powers,” and how does the system of checks
and balances (C&B) function in the constitutional scheme? Please give specific
examples of C&B at works (4p)

Separation of powers means the division of power among the three branches of the
American government (Executive, Judiciary, Legislative).The system of checks and
balances is a way of balancing the power, by allowing each of the three branches limit the
powers of the others. One example of checks and balances is that the president can veto any
bill passed by Congress. The president appoints the members of the Supreme Court but
only with the approval of the senate. Another one is that the president can be impeached by
Congress and that Congress can reverse decisions of the Supreme Court by initating
constitutional amendments. It’s clear how the system of checks and balances makes it
possible for each branch to limit the power of the others.

2. Please choose one of the following options:

OPTION 1: Explain the lawmaking process in Congress (from committee referral to
the president’s signature or veto) – explain the role of committees, different rules in the
House and Senate, conference committees, etc. (8 p)

The process starts when a member of either the house or the senate submits a bill to his or
her respective chamber, this is called a sponsor, first needs a sponsor, other representatives
can sign the bill as cosponsors. Most of the time depending on the bills topic they get
assigned to a certain committee. In the house the speaker decides, the committee of
jurisdiction in some cases they are multiple referrals. After it’s assigned to a subcommittee
they can hold hearings, they can do research, there is a process called markup where
members can rewrite portions of bill, delete or add. And then report back to full committee
after its amendment. Committee decides how the bill will be debated on the floor, when it
will go to the floor amendments and that can be offered, open rule: any amendment is
allowed closed rule: number and types of amendments are restricted. The bill advances
floor debate and then vote up or down vote 50%+ 1 required to pass. Then it can pass to the
other camera floor,where there is the same process of subcommittee and committee to
finally get to floor debate made up by speeches about the bill amendments, then the bill
can be vote up or down, it needs 50%+1 senators . There is a rule called filibuster which
allows indefinite debate and makes runout the clock of how much time is allowed for
consideration of the bill, and the congress people can invoke cloture which will need a
supermajority of 60 votes. House and Senate convene a conference committee that is to
resolve bicameral differences on major legislation. Conference committee amends and
Sebastian Bermudez

considers bill and finally house and senate consider reconciled version of bill and then there
is two options president vetoes bill and then the house and senate consider bill it will take
2/3 to pass the bill. (Bill dies or bill becomes public law.)The other option the president
signs bill and the bill becomes public law.

3. Briefly interpret the following clauses of the constitution and/or explain the following
terms (1-2 p each):

A. The 10th Amendment1, the Fill Faith and Credit Clause2, Privileges and Immunities
Clause3 are fundamental to the US system of government: what is their significance,
what is their relationship to the specific system of government that the framers
designed? (2p)
The significance of the 10th amendment is that everything that is not written on the
constitution that gives power to the federal government is reserved to the states or to the
people, the relationship to federalism is clear in the way in which each state has some
reserved powers because there are not dependent on the federal government. Each state has
some independence over some topics like drug use, drivers license etc.

B. PICK ONE:
- Why did the Framers include a compromise in the constitution regarding the
enslaved population of southern states? What was this compromise, how did it
work? (1 p)
There was a problem regarding representation based on population, because many southern
states had a lot of slaves which meant they could have a political advantage over the north
so basically the decided to count each slave as 1/3 of a person and also another compromise
was that all the slaves that escaped the south were supposed to be brought back to their
owners in the south, which ended up in a big problem for free black men in the north which
in some cases got kidnapped. Another point was the slave trade which was banned in some
states in the north but they ended up allowing it because some states in the south threat to
abandon the convention if slave trade was banned so they ended up deciding that Congress
would have the power to ban the slave trade, but not until 1800.

1
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”
2
Article IV, §1: “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial
Proceedings of every other State”
3
Article IV, §2: “the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several states."
Sebastian Bermudez

C. What were some of the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation? List

and explain at least 4 (four) of those shortcomings (0.5 p each)

The lack of power given to the Continental Congress made the federal government weak.
The Articles allowed Congress to pass laws but no power to enforce those laws. Another
example was that if a state did not support a federal law, that state could decide whether or
not to apply that law. Congress was unable to impose taxes, it could only borrow money on
credit. One vote was given to each state in congress, despite the size of its population. The
articles of confederation made it hard for the federal system to work due to the big
independence each state had and also the problem with passing laws because they needed
9/13 votes to pass a law and also the amendments could only be added with the approval of
all states.