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Framework of Government: Exercise 7 - Introduction to the Federalist Papers; Federalist #10 and Federalist #51
Instructions:
Read the passage and click on the correct answer. If wrong, try
again. Scroll down if you do not see the Answer box. Click
here to review the key terms for this exercise.
The U.S. Constitution sets up three branches of government:
the legislative (makes laws), the executive (applies the laws), and the judiciary (decides
the meaning and aim of the laws). In Federalist # 51, James Madison argues that to prevent
the dangerous concentration of power, the powers of government must be separated. Separation
of powers means that each branch of government should be independent of the others. In
addition, no one branch of government should have so much power as to dominate the other two.
Under the principle of separation of power, each office holder has the legal means and personal
desire to protect his or her authority from being dominated by others. Therefore, the power
of each branch of government is used to check (keep in its place) the powers of the others.
This principle is known as checks and balances; each branch "checks" the
authority of the other, and a well-distributed "balance" of power is made possible.
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Instructions:
Read the passage and click on the correct answer. If wrong, try
again. Scroll down if you do not see the Answer box. 
