03/05/2017 American Experience

Assignment 2: Three Branches of Federal Government

The Framers of the Constitution, to ensure that no single person or entity had a monopoly on power, instituted a system of checks and balances. Thus, the United States has three branches of government: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. Each of these branches has a distinct and essential role in the function of the government and also exercises some control over the actions of the other branches.

Research the three branches of government using the textbook and Argosy University online library resources. Respond to one question from each of the question sets below.

A. Legislative (Pick one to respond to)

• Should members of the U.S. Congress be “delegates” or “trustees” for their constituents? Which do you believe serves the best interests of the members of Congress and of the constituents?
• Should members of Congress vote according to their own views or the views of the constituents who elected them?

B. Executive (Pick one to respond to)

• Which president do you feel was the greatest and which president do you feel was the worst in U.S. history? Why?
• What are the qualifications required to be president? Describe at least one other qualification you feel should also be required and explain why.
• After serving the maximum two terms as president, should an ex-president be allowed to be reelected after an intermediate term of another president? Why or why not?

C. Judicial (Pick one to respond to)

• How can the U.S. Supreme Court’s power be curbed? Is it important that curbing the Court’s power should not be easy? Why or why not?
• The Constitution does not stipulate that judges must have a law degree or legal training. Yet all judges appointed are law school graduates. Why? Is it possible that a judge could come from another field? Why or why not?

Write your response to each question in 150–200 words.

By Sunday, March 5, 2017, post your response to the appropriate Discussion Area. Through Wednesday, March 8, 2017, review and comment on at least two peers’ responses.