D2.Civ.4.6-8: Powers and Limits of Branches, Officials and Bureaucracies
In plain English: D2.Civ.4.6-8 is the C3 Framework civics indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to explain the powers and limits of the three branches of government, public officials, and bureaucracies at different levels in the United States and in other countries. Students ask what each can do, what stops it, and who sets the limit.
Explain the powers and limits of the three branches of government, public officials, and bureaucracies at different levels in the United States and in other countries.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Civics · Civic and Political Institutions · Official standard
Students explain what governments are allowed to do and what stops them. They start with the three branches of the national government, using the federal government's own explanation; move to bureaucracies and public officials, through the 1883 law that began merit hiring for federal jobs; then follow an invented city and state to see the same ideas at the state and local levels.
Finally they compare other countries: Canada, a federation with a parliamentary system, and Mexico, a federation whose president serves a single six-year term. For every official, students answer three questions: what is the power, what is the limit, and who sets the limit?
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Explain one power and one limit of each of the three branches of the U.S. government
Describe the powers and limits of public officials and bureaucracies, including merit hiring
Compare how branches and officials are limited at the national, state and local levels
Compare powers and limits in the United States with those in Canada and Mexico
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Using domain-specific words from history and civics RH.6-8.4
Finding the central idea of an informational text RH.6-8.2
Knowing that the United States has a Constitution, a national government and state governments
"Your principal can make many decisions at school. Name one thing the principal has the power to do, and one thing the principal is not allowed to do, even if he or she wanted to. Who or what stops the principal?"
List answers in two columns, powers (what an official is allowed to do) and limits (what stops or checks the official: a rule, another official, voters, a court). Then add a third column, who sets the limit. Students will find the same three columns in governments. Introduce the lesson words: a public official is a person who holds a government job, elected or appointed; a bureaucracy is the set of government offices and workers, hired rather than elected, who carry out the laws day to day; and governments work at different levels: national (federal), state, and local (county, city or town).
Direct Instruction20 minutes
Part 1: The three branches at the national level. Source 1 is the federal government's own explanation of its branches, from USA.gov. Read it aloud with students; have them underline powers in one color and limits in another. Gloss: "nominations" (choosing a person for a job, to be approved by others), "veto" (the president's refusal to sign a bill), "commander in chief" (the head of the armed forces), "unconstitutional" (against the Constitution).
1The Constitution of the United States divides the federal government into three branches: Legislative Judicial Executive This ensures that no individual or group will have too much power.
2Legislative branch The legislative branch is made up of Congress: The U.S. Senate The U.S. House of Representatives It also includes special agencies and offices that provide support services to Congress. The legislative branch’s key roles include: Drafting proposed laws Confirming or rejecting presidential nominations for heads of federal agencies, federal judges, and the Supreme Court Surveying the budget Having the authority to declare war
3Judicial branch The judicial branch includes the Supreme Court and other federal courts. It evaluates laws by: Interpreting the meaning of laws Applying laws to individual cases Deciding if laws violate the Constitution
4Executive branch The president, the vice president, and the president's cabinet are the members of the executive branch. The executive branch’s key roles include: The president is the head of state, leader of the executive branch, and commander in chief of the United States armed forces. The vice president supports the president. If the president is unable to serve, the vice president becomes president. The vice president also presides over the U.S. Senate and breaks ties in Senate votes. The cabinet members serve as advisors to the president. They include the vice president, heads of executive departments, and other high-ranking government officials. Cabinet members are nominated by the president and must be approved by the Senate. The executive branch also includes: Executive departments Independent agencies Other boards, commissions, and committees
5How each branch of government provides checks and balances The ability of each branch to respond to the actions of the other branches is the system of checks and balances. Each branch of government can change acts of the other branches: The president can veto legislation created by Congress. He or she also nominates heads of federal agencies and high court appointees. Congress confirms or rejects the president's nominees. It can also remove the president from office in exceptional circumstances. The Justices of the Supreme Court can overturn unconstitutional laws. These justices are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
USAGov, U.S. General Services Administration, Branches of the U.S. government (Source 1: the explanation of the three branches and of checks and balances) (2026). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
Show Diagram 1: the same three branches appear at every level of American government, with different names. Then model two examples.
A power and its limit (Source 1, paragraph 5)
Source 1 says "The president can veto legislation created by Congress." Is the veto a power or a limit, and is there a limit on it?
Result: It is both. The veto is the president's power, and it is also a limit on Congress. The veto has a limit of its own: under Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution, Congress can pass the bill anyway if two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate vote to override. So a veto stops a bill that only a simple majority supports, but not one that a large majority supports.
Limits on appointed officials (Source 1, paragraph 4)
Cabinet members run huge executive departments. Who chooses them, and what limits that choice?
Result: The president nominates them, but they "must be approved by the Senate" (paragraph 4). The president's power to pick advisers is limited by a vote of the legislative branch. Paragraph 5 adds that Congress "confirms or rejects the president's nominees" for agency heads and judges too.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Part 2: Bureaucracies and public officials. Most people who work for the government are not elected. Source 3 explains how the federal government once filled jobs as rewards for political supporters, and Source 2 is the 1883 law that began to change that. Gloss: "competitive examinations" (tests that applicants take to compete for a job), "probation" (a trial period), "prejudiced" (harmed), "coerce" (force). Pairs read both sources.
1Following the assassination of President James A. Garfield by a disgruntled job seeker, Congress passed the Pendleton Act in January of 1883. The act took its name from long-time reformer Senator George Hunt Pendleton of Ohio and was signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur, who had become an ardent reformer after Garfield’s assassination.
2The Pendleton Act provided that federal government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit and that government employees be selected through competitive exams. The act also made it unlawful to fire or demote for political reasons employees who were covered by the law. The law further forbade requiring employees to give political service or contributions. The Civil Service Commission was established to enforce this act.
3Although President George Washington based most of his federal appointments on merit, subsequent presidents deviated from this policy. By the time Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828, the "spoils system," in which officials rewarded political friends and supporters with government positions, was in full force.
4The term "spoils system" derives from the phrase "to the victor go the spoils." The flaws and abuses in this system worsened as candidates required political appointees to spend ever more time and money on political activities. The rapid expansion of the federal bureaucracy emboldened job seekers to hound the president-elect. In Jackson’s time, there were approximately 20,000 federal employees. By 1884, there were over 130,000. Additionally, federal jobs became more specialized and required special and specific skills due to industrialization.
5The Pendleton Act transformed the nature of public service. Today many well-educated and well-trained professionals are federal employees. When the Pendleton Act went into effect, its hiring reforms covered only 10 percent of the government’s 132,000 employees. The law's scope has broadened over the years, however, and today it applies to most of the 2.9 million positions in the federal government.
National Archives and Records Administration, Pendleton Act (1883), Milestone Documents (Source 3: the introduction) (2022). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
1SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of said commissioners:
2FIRST. To aid the President, as he may request, in preparing suitable rules for carrying this act into effect [...]
3SECOND. And, among other things, said rules shall provide and declare, as nearly as the conditions of good administration will warrant, as follows:
4First, for open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service now classified or to be classified here- under. Such examinations shall be practical in their character, and so far as may be shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the service into which they seek to be appointed.
5Second, that all the offices, places, and employments so arranged or to be arranged in classes shall be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest as the results of such competitive examinations.
6Third, appointments to the public service aforesaid in the departments at Washington shall be apportioned among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia upon the basis of population as ascertained at the last preceding census. [...]
7Fourth, that there shall be a period of probation before any absolute appointment or employment aforesaid.
8Fifth, that no person in the public service is for that reason under any obligations to contribute to any political fund, or to render any political service, and that he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so.
9Sixth, that no person in said service has any right to use his official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person or body.
Forty-seventh Congress of the United States, The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, January 16, 1883 (Source 2: section 2, the duties of the Civil Service Commission; cuts marked [...]) (1883). Public domain (published 1883). Source text.
Limits on officials inside a bureaucracy (Source 2, paragraphs 8-9)
What do the Fifth and Sixth rules forbid, and whom do they protect?
Result: The Fifth rule says a government worker has no duty "to contribute to any political fund, or to render any political service," and cannot be removed "for refusing to do so." The Sixth says no worker may use "his official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person." The first protects workers from their bosses; the second protects the public from workers. Together they limit how officials can use government jobs for politics.
Part 3: State and local levels. Read Source 4 together, an invented scenario. Pairs list every official or office in it, then fill a chart: level, branch (or bureaucracy), one power, one limit, and who sets the limit.
1Riverton is an invented city of about 60,000 people in an invented state. Like real American cities, it has a government of its own, and above it is a state government with three branches of its own.
2In March, the state legislature passed a budget bill that included $2 million for a new bridge over the Clear River near Riverton. The state constitution gives the governor a line-item veto: the power to cross out single spending items in a budget bill while signing the rest of it. The governor signed the budget but crossed out the bridge money, saying the state could not afford it that year. The state constitution also lets the legislature restore a vetoed item, but only by a two-thirds vote in each house. In the 38-member state senate the vote to restore the bridge was 24 to 14, so the veto stood.
3Riverton's voters elect a mayor for a four-year term and a seven-member city council. The city charter, Riverton's basic plan of government, says no one may serve more than two terms in a row as mayor. The council passes local laws, called ordinances, and approves the city budget. The mayor runs the city departments and may veto an ordinance, but the council can pass it anyway if five of its seven members vote to override the veto.
4The city's Building Department is part of the city bureaucracy: the offices of workers who are hired for their skills, not elected, to carry out the city's laws. Its inspectors check that new buildings follow the city's building code. When a bakery owner asked to add a second floor, an inspector turned down the plans because they had only one stairway for escape in a fire. The inspector could not make up a rule of her own: she had to name the section of the code that the plans broke. The owner appealed to the city's Building Appeals Board, which agreed with the inspector. The owner changed the plans, and the permit was granted.
5A state court set a limit on the city that spring. The state's open-meetings law says local councils must make decisions in public. A state judge found that the Riverton council had decided where to put a new parking garage in a closed meeting, so the decision did not count. The council had to hold a public meeting and vote again.
SVHS (invented scenario written for this page; the city, state and people are invented), A Spring in Riverton (Source 4: invented scenario). Original passage written for this page.
A state-level power, limit and vote count (Source 4, paragraph 2)
Why did the governor's veto of the bridge money stand, even though most state senators voted to restore it?
Result: Restoring a vetoed item takes two-thirds of each house. Two-thirds of 38 senators is 25⅓, so at least 26 votes were needed. The vote was 24 to 14: a majority (24 is more than half of 38), but 2 votes short of two-thirds. The governor's line-item veto is a strong power, and the two-thirds rule is its limit.
Independent Practice15-20 minutes
Part 4: Other countries. Students read Source 5, which compares the two neighbors of the United States, and look at Diagram 2. Then they take the quiz. Gloss: "federation" (a country in which power is divided between a national government and states or provinces), "parliamentary system" (the head of government is chosen from, and answers to, the legislature), "presidential system" (the head of government is elected separately from the legislature), "confidence" (the support of most members of the legislature).
1Canada and Mexico, the two neighbors of the United States, are both federations: power is divided between a national government and the governments of smaller parts. But they organize their national governments in different ways.
2Canada is divided into ten provinces and three territories. The Constitution Act, 1867 gives the national Parliament in Ottawa power over matters such as national defence, criminal law and money, and gives the provinces power over matters such as schools, hospitals and city governments. Canada has a parliamentary system. Voters elect the members of the House of Commons, and the party leader who can win the support of most of its members usually becomes prime minister. The prime minister and the cabinet must keep that support: if the House of Commons votes that it has no confidence in the government, the government must resign or ask for a new election. Canada's King is the head of state, but by custom he, and the governor general who represents him in Canada, act on the advice of the prime minister. Members of the Senate are appointed, not elected, and may serve until age 75. Since 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has allowed courts to strike down laws that violate the rights it lists. One section of the Charter, however, lets Parliament or a provincial legislature set aside some of those rights for a law, for up to five years at a time. Canada's public service is hired on merit, through an independent Public Service Commission.
3Mexico is divided into 31 states and Mexico City. Like the United States, it has a presidential system: voters elect the president directly, and the president is not a member of the national legislature, the Congress of the Union, which has two houses, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The president serves one six-year term. Mexico's Constitution of 1917 says that a person who has been president may never hold the office again. Each state elects its own governor and legislature, and a state governor also serves a single term of up to six years.
SVHS (explainer written for this page), How Canada and Mexico Divide and Limit Power (Source 5: SVHS-written explainer). Original passage written for this page.
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: Name one official from today at any level or in any country. Write one power the official has, one limit on that power, and who or what sets the limit.
Teacher notes: Source 1 is quoted from USA.gov as updated on March 2, 2026; its headings appear in italics and its bullet points as separate lines. Source 2 keeps the National Archives transcription exactly, including "here- under." Sources 4 and 5 were written for this page: Riverton and its state are invented, while the facts in Source 5 about Canada and Mexico are real and are drawn from those countries' constitutions. Facts about other countries can change; check Source 5 against current official sources before reusing it in later years.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a three-column chart for every source: "Who," "Can do," "Cannot do / who stops it"
Pre-mark the official in each paragraph of Source 4 before reading
Use Diagram 1 as a sorting mat for the Activity 1 cards
For Advanced Students
Find your own state's rule for overriding a governor's veto and compare it with Source 4
Research one more country's system and add a column to Diagram 2
Write a short argument: is it better for a country to limit its leader by term limits or by votes of confidence?
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong work names the official or branch, states one power and one limit accurately, and says who or what sets the limit: a constitution, a law, another branch, a court, or the voters. Watch for three errors: mixing up powers and limits; treating hired bureaucrats as elected officials; and assuming every country is organized like the United States.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Power or Limit?
10 minPairs
Pairs sort 8 cards about the national government into two piles, power and limit, and write which branch each card belongs to. Some cards are both: a power of one branch that limits another.
The 8 Cards
The president can veto a bill.
Congress can override a veto with two-thirds of each house.
The Senate approves or rejects cabinet members.
Congress drafts and passes laws.
Courts apply laws to individual cases.
A president may be elected only twice (the Twenty-second Amendment, 1951).
Federal judges hold office "during good Behaviour," with no election (Constitution, Article III).
Congress can remove a president from office.
Answer Key for the Teacher
Card 1: executive power that limits Congress
Card 2: legislative power that limits the president
Card 3: legislative power that limits the president
Card 4: legislative power
Card 5: judicial power
Card 6: limit on the president, set by an amendment to the Constitution
Card 7: a protection for judges, which limits the power of the other branches over them
Card 8: legislative power that limits the president (the House impeaches; the Senate holds the trial)
Discussion Questions
Which cards are both a power and a limit? Why does that happen so often?
Card 7 says judges are never elected. Is that a limit on judges, or a way to protect them from limits? Explain.
2
Fairmont County Role Cards (Invented Scenario)
15 minGroups of 4
Each student in a group takes one role card for invented Fairmont County. Each card says what the official can do. Students read their card aloud, and the group decides together what limits the official, and who sets the limit.
The 4 Role Cards
County commissioner (elected, one of five): votes on the county budget and county rules.
Sheriff (elected): runs the county jail and the deputies who patrol roads outside the towns.
County health inspector (hired): inspects restaurant kitchens and can close one that is unsafe.
County judge (elected): hears cases about county rules and small claims.
Answer Key for the Teacher
Commissioner: needs a majority, 3 of 5 votes; must follow state law; voters can replace him or her at the next election.
Sheriff: must follow the U.S. and state constitutions, for example needing a warrant to search a home; county budget limits; voters.
Health inspector: may act only under the written health code; the owner can appeal to a board or a court; the commissioners set the rules and budget.
Judge: must follow state law and higher courts; a losing side can appeal to a higher state court.
Discussion Questions
Which official was limited mostly by voters, and which mostly by written rules?
The health inspector is not elected. What keeps hired officials from abusing their power?
Variation for a Shorter Class
Use only the commissioner and health inspector cards, and compare an elected official with a hired one.
3
Design a Government for Norland (Invented Scenario)
15 minGroups of 3
Invented country Norland is writing a new constitution. Each group chooses a presidential or a parliamentary system and writes three limits on its chief executive, one on its courts and one on its bureaucracy. Groups then trade plans and test another group's plan with a problem card.
Planning Sheet
How is the chief executive chosen, and for how long?
What can the legislature do if it disagrees with the chief executive?
Can courts strike down laws? Who chooses the judges?
How are government workers hired, and what can they not be ordered to do?
Problem Cards
The chief executive wants to stay in office after the term ends.
A government worker is told to campaign for the ruling party or lose the job.
The legislature passes a law that a group of citizens says breaks their rights.
What to Look For
Plans should name who sets each limit and how it works when tested. Ask groups to name a real country from today's sources whose rules are like theirs.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Branches and Levels in the United States
The same three jobs, making laws, carrying them out and deciding cases, are done at the national, state and local levels, by officials with different titles. The agencies and departments in the executive column are the bureaucracy.
Diagram 2: Levels of Government in the United States, Canada and Mexico
All three countries are federations, with a national government, a middle level (states or provinces) and local governments. In Canada, local governments are created by the provinces; in the United States, by the states.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
D2.Civ.4.6-8 Homework: Who Can Do What?
Directions: Use Sources 1-5 in the lesson plan and the facts given in each problem. Answer in 3-5 sentences, and name the source and paragraph you use.
Part 1: The United States (Problems 1-3)
Source 1 says Congress "can also remove the president from office in exceptional circumstances." Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives first votes to impeach (charge) the president by a simple majority, and then the Senate holds a trial; removal takes two-thirds of the senators present. Why might the Constitution split removal into two steps in two different houses?
Read the Third and Fourth rules in Source 2, paragraphs 6-7. Explain each in your own words, and explain how each one limits the officials who hire government workers.
In Source 4, the Riverton bridge needed a two-thirds vote in each house of the state legislature. Suppose the 75-member state house had voted 52 to 23 to restore the bridge and the 38-member senate had voted 26 to 12. Would the bridge money have been restored? Show your math. Then explain why governors in many states have a line-item veto while the U.S. president does not: in 1998 the Supreme Court ruled that a law giving the president a line-item veto broke the Constitution.
Part 2: Other Countries (Problems 4-6)
Mexico's Constitution says a person who has been president may never hold the office again (Source 5, paragraph 3). Before the Mexican Revolution began in 1910, Porfirio Díaz had been president for most of the years from 1876 to 1911. Explain why Mexicans might have written this limit into their 1917 Constitution.
Using Source 5, paragraph 2, decide which level of government in Canada would most likely handle each of these: (a) a new rule for what high schools teach, (b) building a hospital, (c) a bus route inside a city. Explain each choice.
Compare how the United States, Canada and Mexico limit their chief executive (president or prime minister). Which limit do you think is strongest? Give one reason and one reason someone might disagree.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Powers
States the power accurately and names the official or branch
Power stated vaguely
Missing or wrong
Limits
States the limit and who or what sets it
States a limit without who sets it
Missing
Evidence and Math
Uses the source and paragraph; math shown and correct
Evidence or math partly correct
No evidence
Explanation
Explains why the power or limit exists
Explanation incomplete
No explanation
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-4 use Source 1 (the branches), Questions 5-9 use Sources 2-3 (the Pendleton Act) and Questions 10-12 and 19 use Source 4 (Riverton). Questions 13-18 use Source 5 (Canada and Mexico), printed in the Independent Practice phase; Question 20 uses any of them. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 3, which of these is a power of the judicial branch?
Answer: D
Paragraph 3 lists the ways the judicial branch "evaluates laws," including "Deciding if laws violate the Constitution." Choice A is a power of the Senate, choice B belongs to Congress and the president, and choice C belongs to the president as "commander in chief."
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 4, what does the vice president do in the Senate?
Answer: B
Paragraph 4 says the vice president "presides over the U.S. Senate and breaks ties in Senate votes." Choice D is a common mistake: the vice president votes only to break a tie, not on every bill. Choices A and C are not in the source.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, which branch has the authority to declare war?
Answer: A
Paragraph 2 lists "Having the authority to declare war" among the legislative branch's key roles. Choice B confuses declaring war with leading the armed forces: the president is "commander in chief" (paragraph 4). Choice D is wrong because the cabinet members "serve as advisors."
Question 4 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 1 says "The Justices of the Supreme Court can overturn unconstitutional laws." That is a strong power. Using paragraph 5, explain one way the other two branches limit the Supreme Court.
Model answer: The justices do not choose themselves: they "are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate" (paragraph 5). So the executive branch picks who may become a justice, and the legislative branch can reject the choice. Rubric: full credit for both branches' roles with the quotation; partial credit for one branch.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Under the First and Second rules in Source 2, how were people chosen for the jobs the act covered?
Answer: C
The First rule calls for "open, competitive examinations," and the Second says jobs "shall be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest." Choice A describes the spoils system the act was meant to replace (Source 3, paragraph 3). Choices B and D are not in the act.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 1, what event led Congress to pass the Pendleton Act?
Answer: D
Paragraph 1 says "Following the assassination of President James A. Garfield by a disgruntled job seeker, Congress passed the Pendleton Act." Choice C happened more than fifty years earlier; the source says the spoils system was "in full force" by then. Choices A and B are not in the source.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, what was the "spoils system"?
Answer: A
Paragraph 3 defines it as a system "in which officials rewarded political friends and supporters with government positions," and paragraph 4 says the name comes from "to the victor go the spoils." Choice C is close to the opposite: under the spoils system, workers lost jobs for political reasons, not for poor work. Choices B and D are not in the source.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 3 says there were about 20,000 federal employees in Jackson's time and over 130,000 by 1884. About how many times larger had the federal work force become?
Answer: A
130,000 ÷ 20,000 = 6.5, so the work force was about 6 times larger (more than 6½ times, since the source says "over" 130,000). Choice C comes from subtracting instead of dividing: 130,000 - 20,000 = 110,000. Choice B is too large: 11 × 20,000 = 220,000, far more than 130,000. Choice D is far too small.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 3 says that when the act went into effect, "its hiring reforms covered only 10 percent of the government's 132,000 employees." About how many jobs were covered at first?
Answer: B
10 percent of 132,000 is 0.10 × 132,000 = 13,200. Choice A uses 1 percent instead of 10 percent. Choice C is the 90 percent who were not covered (132,000 - 13,200). Choice D is the whole work force.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 4, which person is part of the city bureaucracy?
Answer: D
Paragraph 4 says the Building Department is part of the city bureaucracy, made up of workers "hired for their skills, not elected," and the inspector works there. The mayor and the council members are elected city officials (paragraph 3), and the governor is a state official (paragraph 2).
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 4, suppose the mayor vetoes a new ordinance and 4 of the 7 council members vote to override. What happens?
Answer: C
Paragraph 3 says the council can pass a vetoed ordinance "if five of its seven members vote to override the veto." Four votes are a majority (more than 3.5) but fewer than 5, so the veto stands. Choice A confuses a simple majority with the larger number an override needs. Choices B and D bring in officials who have no part in a city veto.
Question 12 of 20 · Short Answer
In Source 4, paragraph 5, a state judge ruled against the Riverton city council. Explain how this shows that one level of government can limit another, and what branch set the limit.
Model answer: The state legislature made the open-meetings law, a state law that local councils must follow. When the council decided about the parking garage "in a closed meeting," a state judge, part of the state's judicial branch, ruled that the decision "did not count," and the council had to vote again in public. So the state level, through its law and its courts, limited the local level. Rubric: full credit for the state law, the court and the effect on the council; partial credit for two of the three.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 5, what happens in Canada if the House of Commons votes that it has no confidence in the government?
Answer: C
Paragraph 2 says "if the House of Commons votes that it has no confidence in the government, the government must resign or ask for a new election." Choice A is wrong because the King, "by custom," acts on the prime minister's advice. Choices B and D are not in the source.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 5, which matter belongs to Canada's national Parliament under the Constitution Act, 1867?
Answer: C
Paragraph 2 gives Parliament power over "national defence, criminal law and money." Choices A, B and D are the examples the source gives of powers that belong to the provinces.
Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 5, what limit does Mexico's Constitution place on the president?
Answer: A
Paragraph 3 says the president "serves one six-year term" and that "a person who has been president may never hold the office again." Choice B describes the rule for U.S. presidents (no more than two terms), not Mexico's. Choices C and D are not in the source.
Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 5, what limits the power of Canadian courts to strike down laws that violate Charter rights?
Answer: D
Paragraph 2 says one section of the Charter "lets Parliament or a provincial legislature set aside some of those rights for a law, for up to five years at a time." Choice A misuses the five years; the source says nothing about electing judges. Choices B and C are not in the source.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Compare how the head of government is chosen and limited in the United States and in Canada. Use Source 1 and Source 5, and name one way they are alike.
Model answer: In the United States the president is elected separately from Congress and is limited by checks such as Congress confirming nominees and being able to remove the president (Source 1). In Canada the prime minister is the leader who wins the support of most members of the House of Commons, and must keep it: a vote of no confidence forces the government to resign or call an election (Source 5). They are alike because in both countries the legislature can limit the head of government. Rubric: full credit for how each is chosen, one limit on each and one likeness; partial credit for one country.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 2 set up merit hiring for some U.S. government jobs in 1883. Source 5 says Canada's public service is hired on merit through an independent commission. Why might countries want bureaucrats hired on merit rather than by elected leaders' choice? Give one reason from Source 3.
Model answer: Merit hiring means workers get jobs because they can do them, not because they helped a politician win. Source 3 says that under the spoils system candidates "required political appointees to spend ever more time and money on political activities," and job seekers hounded the president-elect. As federal jobs "required special and specific skills," the government needed skilled workers who would stay when leaders changed. An independent commission keeps elected leaders from controlling the hiring. Rubric: full credit for a reason and evidence from Source 3; partial credit for a reason without evidence.
Question 19 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 4, which of these is a limit on Riverton's mayor?
Answer: C
Paragraph 3 says "no one may serve more than two terms in a row as mayor." That rule in the city charter limits how long one person can hold the office. Choices A and B are the mayor's powers. Choice D describes how the mayor gets the job; elections can limit an official, but the statement itself names no limit.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Choose two officials or offices from today's sources at different levels or in different countries (for example, the governor in Source 4 and the president of Mexico in Source 5). For each, explain one power, one limit and who or what sets the limit.
Model answer: The invented governor in Source 4 has the power of a line-item veto over budget items; the limit is that the legislature can restore an item by a two-thirds vote in each house, set by the state constitution. Mexico's president runs the national executive branch; the limit is one six-year term with no re-election, set by the 1917 Constitution (Source 5). Rubric: full credit for a power, a limit and its source for both officials; partial credit for one official.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
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Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Civ.4.6-8 mean?
D2.Civ.4.6-8 asks students in grades 6-8 to explain what the three branches of government, public officials and bureaucracies are allowed to do (their powers) and what stops or checks them (their limits), at the national, state and local levels in the United States and in other countries.
What is a bureaucracy, in words a middle schooler can use?
A bureaucracy is the set of government offices and workers who carry out the laws every day, such as inspectors, clerks and agency staff. Most are hired for their skills, not elected. They have real power, for example to approve a permit, but only within the rules the law gives them.
Why does D2.Civ.4.6-8 include other countries?
Comparing countries shows that the American way of dividing and limiting power is one choice among several. Canada and Mexico are both federations like the United States, but Canada has a parliamentary system and Mexico a presidential one, so students can see different ways of limiting leaders.
What is the difference between a power and a limit?
A power is something an official or branch is allowed to do; a limit is a rule, person or institution that stops or checks it. Many powers are also limits on someone else: the president's veto is a power of the president and a limit on Congress.
How is D2.Civ.4.6-8 different from D2.Civ.4.9-12?
The grades 6-8 indicator asks students to explain powers and limits at different levels and in other countries. The grades 9-12 indicator focuses on the U.S. Constitution and asks how its powers, responsibilities and limits have changed over time and are still contested.
Why use an invented city in Source 4?
Real city and state governments differ a great deal, and real local disputes can be current political questions. An invented city lets the page show common features, such as a mayor's veto, an appeals board and an open-meetings law, without taking sides. Teachers can then ask students to find the real rules for their own city or state.
Do all governors have a line-item veto?
No. Many governors have one, but not all, and the details differ from state to state. The President of the United States does not: in 1998, in Clinton v. City of New York, the Supreme Court ruled that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 was unconstitutional.
What are the levels of government in the United States?
There are three main levels: the national (federal) government, the 50 state governments, and local governments such as counties, cities and towns. Tribal nations also have their own governments. Each level has its own officials and agencies, and each is limited by the U.S. Constitution and by the levels above it.
How can I connect D2.Civ.4.6-8 to my students' own community?
Ask students to find their city's or county's charter or website and identify the local legislature, executive and courts, one local agency, and one limit on the mayor or county leader. Compare their findings with Source 4.
How should students be assessed on D2.Civ.4.6-8?
Ask them to explain, for an official they have not studied, one power, one limit and who sets the limit, with evidence from a source. The quiz on this page mixes recall from the sources with application questions, such as working out whether a veto stands.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D2.Civ.4.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
RH.6-8.4Prerequisite
Determine the meaning of words, including vocabulary specific to history and social studies
Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national and international institutions
Lesson coming soon
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
