Social Studies

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Test time: 70 min

Analyze sources, timelines, maps, and charts in civics, U.S. history, economics, and geography.

Free sample lesson

Chapter 1: Constitutional foundations and branches (20 min)

Free sample lesson

Overview

Understand founding principles, the Constitution, separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.

Key concepts

• Popular sovereignty, rule of law, limited government, and consent of the governed shape U.S. constitutional government.
• Legislative makes laws, executive enforces them, and judicial interprets them; each branch checks the others.
• Federalism divides power among national, state, and local levels, while the Constitution is the supreme law.

Method

1. Identify the branch and level of government in the source or scenario.
2. Classify the action as making, enforcing, funding, interpreting, or reviewing law.
3. Connect the example to a constitutional principle or specific check.

Worked example

Congress passes a bill, the president may veto it, Congress may override, and courts may review the law.

Check yourself

• Did you separate a branch’s main role from its checking power?
• Is the power federal, state, shared, or local?
• Does the source support the principle you chose?

Practice

Create a three-column chart of one power and two checks for each branch.

More chapters — Premium

The remaining 6 chapters are part of the Premium course: