How did a system of checks and balances limit the federal government's power?
Checks and balances-The men who wrote the Constitution sought to create a stronger form of government, but were also fearful of creating one that was too strong. In order to prevent their new government from becoming too strong, the Framers built a system of checks and balances into the Constitution. That is, they created a government with three branches, each of which had some power over the other two. The new form of government had a legislative branch (the Senate and the House of Representatives), an executive branch (headed by the president), and a judicial branch (a system of courts, headed by the U.S. Supreme Court). The legislative branch would write the laws, the president would administer or execute those laws, and the courts would settle disputes that arose under those laws. Thus, each branch had a different role to play in the new government.
The three branches of government were designed to check one another's power. If the president strongly opposed a law passed by Congress, he had the power to veto it (meaning he could refuse to sign it, which would prevent it from becoming law.) If Congress disagreed strongly with the president's veto, it could override that veto if two-thirds of the members of both the House and the Senate voted to do so. Finally, the courts could settle disputes that occurred over laws. In 1803, the Supreme Court declared that it possessed the power of judicial review, which meant that it could declare laws unconstitutional and therefore void if they violated the Constitution.
The Constitution spelled out the powers, duties, and limits of the three branches of government in considerable detail. A couple of these provisions deserve particular attention: first, any bills for raising revenue (taxes) must originate in the House of Representatives. Second, the Constitution states that the president is the Commander-in-Chief of the American military.