The document discusses several aspects of the US government system including: 1) It discusses the lawmaking process in Congress and the roles of the House Rules Committee and Conference Committee. 2) It discusses differences between the House and Senate including their sizes and lengths of terms for members. 3) It discusses two specific powers granted to the President by the Constitution or assumed in the 20th century. 4) It discusses two ways presidential power is checked or limited. The document contains questions about the branches of government and their powers within the system of checks and balances. It also discusses concepts from an essay on why the US Constitution is not democratic and slows down lawmaking and majoritarian rule.

1. Identify and briefly discuss TWO specific ways in which presidential
WritingPart IThese four questions are based on chapters 7-9 of the Landy textbook and our
class discussions about them.Among the primary duties of members of Congress is making
laws. Discuss the process by which a bill becomes a law. In your discussion, be sure to
include the role of each of the following in the lawmaking process: (a) the House Rules
Committee and (b) the Conference Committee.1The Framers of the United States
Constitution created a legislative system that is bicameral. However, it is not just bicameral;
the framers also established two houses of distinctly different character and
authority.Identify and briefly discuss ONE way in which the House of Representatives and
the Senate are different from each other and briefly discuss ONE reason why this difference
is important.Identify and briefly discuss ONE power unique to the House of Representatives
and explain why the Framers gave the House this power.Identify and briefly discuss ONE
power unique to the Senate and explain why the Framers gave the Senate this power.The
20th century witnessed a dramatic increase in the power of the presidency. In fact, the
modern presidency has been described as the most powerful political office in the
world.Identify and briefly discuss TWO specific powers that the Constitution grants to the
president or that the president has assumed since the 20thIdentify and briefly discuss TWO
specific ways in which presidential power is restrained, limited, or checked.In 1788,
Alexander Hamilton, writing in defense of the proposed Constitution, described the
judiciary as “the least dangerous” branch of the federal government. Whereas the president
is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and thus holds, as Hamilton put it, “the sword of
the community,” and whereas Congress appropriates money and thus “commands the
purse,” the judiciary “has no influence over either the sword or the purse” and “can take no
active resolution whatever.” It has, Hamilton concluded, “neitherforce nor will but merely
judgment,” and thus is “beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of
power.”Briefly explain in your own words Hamilton’s main claim here.Identify and explain
the primary power of the judicial branch within the system ofchecks and balances.Was
Hamilton correct? Construct ONE argument in support of his claim and ONEargument
against it.2Part IIAnswer the following questions in complete sentences, basing your
responses on your reading of the essay “Why is the Constitution Not Democratic?” by
Dennis Hale and Marc Landy:What do the authors mean when they write that “the United
States appears to have a government that makes it very difficult to accomplish anything”?
Identify and briefly discuss ONE specific feature of the U.S. Constitution that slows down the
process of lawmaking.The authors point out that the Framers of the Constitution designed a

2. system of government that “slow[s] down and even prevent[s] actions or policies that might
be considered popular.” By “popular” actions or policies they mean those that express the
will of the people (what they also call “majoritarian”). Identify and briefly discuss ONE
specific way that the Constitution restrains the will of the people or majoritarian rule.Why
did the Framers design a constitution that places so many obstacles in the way of majority
rule? Identify and briefly discuss ONE reason.What do the authors mean by a stable
majority as distinct from an ephemeral majority?Identify and briefly discuss the specific
historical example the authors give in the last part of their essay to illustrate how the long
and often difficult process of democratic deliberation can lead to government action that
does accomplish permanent and substantial results.Part IIIIn reflecting on the course as a
whole, what would you say are the two or three things that you learned about American
government this semester that have been the most meaningful for you? What aspect of
American government would you like to learn more about?