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Lesson

The Balance of Power between the Legislative and Executive Branches

Duration
70 min
Published
Nov 5, 2020
A historic black and white photo of a president signing documents at a desk, surrounded by seven men in suits.
The constitutional principles of the American Founding that guided American politics before the Civil War were increasingly altered as a new approach to governance become predominant in the early twentieth century. The rise of an administrative state centralized more power in the hands of federal agencies in the executive branch and blurred the relationship of the branches of government and their respective constitutional powers. Even though the Constitution specifically granted authority to Congress to regulate interstate commerce in its enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8, Congress increasingly delegated that authority to the executive branch.

Founding Principles

Limited Government, Representative / Republican Government, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances

Objectives

  • Students will evaluate how the growth of an administrative state in the United States has affected constitutional principles.
  • Students will evaluate the shift of power from the legislative to executive branch in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  • Students will analyze legislation to determine the ways in which it may have increased executive power and will understand the effects of such policies.

Materials

Student Handouts

Teacher Resources

Lesson Components

ActivityHandout A: Background Essay – The Balance of Power between the Legislative and Executive Branches
ActivityHandout B: Excerpts from the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
ActivityHandout C: Excerpts from the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
ActivityHandout D: Excerpts from the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933
ActivityHandout E: Excerpts from the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
ActivityHandout F: Comparing Legislation Graphic Organizer
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Lesson plan

70 minClick a phase to open it

Key Terms

Administrative state
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
Apothegm
Bureaucracy
Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914

Standards

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