Constitution 101 Curriculum
Module 6: Separation of Powers and Federalism
Overview
When crafting the Constitution, one of the central concerns of the Founding generation was how best to control government power. With the new Constitution, the Framers looked to strike an important balance—creating a new national government that was more powerful than the one that came before it while still protecting the American people’s most cherished liberties. They settled on a national government with defined but limited powers. Instead of placing authority in the hands of a single person (like a king), a small group of people (like an aristocracy), or even the whole people (like a direct democracy), the Framers divided power in two ways. At the national level, the Framers divided power between the three branches of government—the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch. This process of dividing power between different branches of government is called the separation of powers. From there, the Framers further divided power between the national government and the states under a system known as federalism. In this module, students will explore the key functions of the different parts of government and the role that the Constitution plays in controlling government power.
Learning Objectives
- Define the separation of powers and explain how this system works.
- Describe federalism, including how it functions within our constitutional system and how it affects our lives.
- Identify where we see the separation of powers in the Constitution and why the Founding generation valued it as an important feature of their new system of government.
- Identify where federalism is in the Constitution and why the Founding generation valued it as an important feature of their new system of government.
6.1 Activity: Separation of Powers and Federalism: Whose job (or check), is it?
Purpose
When crafting a new Constitution, the framers were concerned about the threats posed by a powerful new national government. To guard against potential abuses of power, the Founding generation divided power.
In this activity, you will explore the separation of powers and federalism.
Process
Complete the Activity Guide: Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and Federalism Reflection worksheet. Discuss with your group your understanding of the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.
After your discussion, your teacher will lead you through an activity to determine your understanding of separation of powers and checks and balances, in particular.
Launch
Open the discussion by asking students what they know about separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism. Then, ask them whether there's anything they wonder about those key principles.
Activity Synthesis
After students complete their group discussions, lead them through the Activity Guide: Separation of Powers and Federalism: Whose job (or check), is it? document. You may distribute the document or use it to lead class discussion.
Now that students have a better understanding of the separation of powers, ask students to identify examples of when a branch has the sole power to work alone and when a branch must work with another branch to take action.
Ask the students these follow-up questions:
- Which jobs are standalone jobs of one of the branches of government?
- Which jobs are overlapping?
- Why did the founders separate power between the branches and included connections and overlap between jobs (checks and balances)?
As part of the discussion, connect the principles of the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism to the broader theory of our republic: the need to both check abuses of power and create a government that creates policy that serves the common good (by slowing politics down, blocking bad ideas, curbing abuse, promoting deliberation, valuing principled compromise, etc.).
Students should see not only the value of checking government abuse, but also the constructive parts of our complicated system—how it might promote good policy—and also reflect on whether they think that the founders struck the right balance.
To frame this part of the discussion, ask students to reflect on the following questions:
- How does this system of separating power act as a tool to ensure better outcomes?
- How does the entire system work together to slow down politics, limit abuses, promote deliberation and compromise, and force us to work together to achieve common purposes (but only when the ideas are consistent with the Constitution and attract broad support)?
6.2 Activity: Key Terms
Purpose
By continuing to examine the principles of the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism, you will engage with key principles that continue to drive our constitutional system today.
Process
Complete the Activity Guide: Key Terms - Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and Federalism worksheet to continue the discussion on separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.
Launch Information
Review with all students the key principles and the definitions. Give examples of each of the criteria in the worksheet: Definition (pre-written), Characteristic (define), Example (define), and Non-example (define) before asking students to start their group work. Break students into groups and allow them time to explore, discuss, and begin to complete the worksheet.
Activity Synthesis
At the end of the activity, remind students that they will be exploring this tool throughout the entire module and will use it as a worksheet for the video lesson. Have students share a few ideas and questions from each group.
Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of these key principles, ask them to find current examples of separation of powers, checks and balances, or federalism in news articles.
6.3 Video Activity: Separation of Powers
Purpose
Your guide, Professor Jeffrey Rosen, will explore the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.
Process
Watch the following video about the separation of powers.
Then, complete the Video Reflection: Separation of Powers worksheet.
Identify any areas that are unclear to you or where you would like further explanation. Be prepared to discuss your answers in a group and to ask your teacher any remaining questions.
Launch
Give students time to watch the video and answer the questions.
Activity Synthesis
Have students share their responses in small groups and then discuss as a class.
Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of the separation of powers, you could provide a Word Cloud to support students’ word building skills (virtue, power, checks, reserved).
6.4 Activity: Branch Exploration
Purpose
Separation of powers refers to the Constitution’s system of distributing political power between three branches of government: a legislative branch (Congress), an executive branch (led by a single president), and a judicial branch (headed by a single Supreme Court). In this activity, you will explore each branch in more detail.
Description
Review the summary document for each article:
- Info Brief: Article I - Congress
- Info Brief: Article II - The Presidency
- Info Brief: Article III - The Judiciary
Complete the Activity Guide: Branch Exploration worksheet to further explore your branch. Students should also be encouraged to look at the Constitution’s text itself when completing the activity sheet.
Final Assignment:
Work with your group to build a dossier on your assigned branch and present your findings to the class.
Examples of what goes into the dossier:
- Title: What is the name of the branch?
- Role: What is the primary role and/or responsibility of the branch in our constitutional system?
- Structure: How is the branch structured? Where do we find the branch’s structure set out in the Constitution?
- Power: What part of the Constitution defines the powers of the branch?
- Background: Write a short paragraph on the historical origins of the branch. What did the Founding generation have in mind?
- Key moments: List the major turning points and/or Supreme Court cases about the branch.
- Other information: Share any other vital information about the branch and how it works.
Launch
Review each branch of government with the students briefly before splitting them up into three groups.
- The legislative branch—Congress—makes the laws. (We find this branch in Article I).
- The executive branch—led by a single president—enforces the laws. (We find this branch in Article II).
- The judicial branch—headed by a single Supreme Court—interprets the laws. (We find this branch in Article III).
Activity Synthesis
Ask students to complete the Activity Guide: Building a Branch Dossier about their branch and present it to their class. Ask students what branch sounds most interesting to them and why. Ask students to examine whether these answers come from their knowledge about the role as spelled out by the Constitution or how the role plays out every day in our government.
Activity Extension (optional)
Create a spider web map (ecosystem map) of the three branches of government. Students can mark a check on a branch and another color for when branches work together. Refer to the spider web map example.
6.5 Activity: Philosophical Thinking on Separation of Powers
Purpose
In this activity, you will use primary sources to identify the philosophical background for separation of powers and checks and balances.
Process
Choose one of the assigned readings and answer the following questions.
- What evidence did the author use for the need for separation of powers?
- What are two main arguments advanced by the author in this piece?
- What is the role of the governed?
When complete, be ready to share what you have learned with the class.
- Primary Source: Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
- Primary Source: John Adams, Thoughts on Government (1776)
- Primary Source: James Madison, Federalist No. 51 (1788)
Complete the Activity Guide: Philosophical Thinking on Separation of Powers worksheet.
Launch
Ask students to read and mark up (one or all of) the primary sources. They should then individually answer the questions. Break students into three groups to review their assigned reading(s) and their answers to the questions.
As a class, discuss the connection between Montesquieu’s ideas of separation of powers, Adams’s views, and Madison’s views.
Activity Synthesis
Have students write an answer to the following questions:
- How do the ideas of separation of powers and checks and balances prevent one group from gaining too much power?
- What are the benefits of these key principles? (Answer: Prevent tyranny/abuse of power. Slow down politics and promote deliberation/compromise.)
- Are there any drawbacks? (Answer: The system is slow. Can’t respond to problems as quickly. Sometimes the government can’t take action. Get them thinking about this now.)
Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of the separation of powers and checks and balances, ask students to write a response to one of the authors either agreeing or disagreeing with their argument.
6.6 Activity: Federalism, It’s in There
Purpose
Federalism is the word used to describe the Constitution’s system of dividing political power between the national government and the states. When we look for federalism in the Constitution, where can we find it? The Constitution itself doesn’t say the word “federalism” anywhere. But it’s in there. It’s everywhere.
In this activity, you will find examples of federalism in the Constitution.
Process
Read the Info Brief: Federalism and then build out the Activity Guide - Federalism in the Constitution chart to explore the concept of federalism as a key principle in the Constitution.
Launch
Review the concept of federalism. Review the definition and big ideas from activity one and the video.
Give students time to use the chart to identify examples of federalism in the Constitution.
Activity Synthesis
Ask students to explain why we have a system of federalism.
As a group discussion, ask students again, why did the framers embed these ideas of separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism into the structure of the Constitution?
Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of federalism, ask them to find current examples of federalism in news articles. Or explore how women won the vote through federalism and the 19th Amendment by exploring The Awakening interactive map. Students can explore this map to discover how women’s suffrage at the state level paved the way for the 19th Amendment.
6.7 Test Your Knowledge
Purpose
Congratulations for completing the activities in this module! Now it’s time to apply what you have learned about the basic ideas and concepts covered.
Process
Complete the questions in the following quiz to test your knowledge.
Launch
This activity will help students determine their overall understanding of module concepts. It is recommended that questions are completed electronically so immediate feedback is provided, but a downloadable copy of the questions (with answer key) is also available.
Up Next
Module 7: The Legislative Branch: How Congress Works
The Constitution grants Congress—our nation’s legislative branch—the power to make laws. The legislative branch is outlined in Article I of the Constitution. The Constitution divides Congress into two houses—the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The House of Representatives is composed of representatives proportionate to each state’s population. At the same time, the Senate is organized under the principle of equal state representation—with each state, regardless of its population, receiving two Senators.
In this module, studen...
