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U.S. Civics & Citizenship

The naturalization test, understood not memorized.

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What this covers

Every lesson is short enough to finish in one sitting and ends with questions that make you use what you just read.

  1. Principles of American DemocracyThe Constitution, amendments, and the rule of law5 min
  2. The Three BranchesSeparation of powers and checks and balances5 min
  3. Congress in DetailThe Senate, the House, and how they differ5 min
  4. The Presidency and the CabinetElections, terms, powers, and the President's advisers5 min
  5. Courts and RightsThe judicial branch, the Supreme Court, and your freedoms5 min
Show all 11 lessonsShow fewer lessons
  1. Federal vs State PowersFederalism: who does what in American government5 min
  2. Rights and Responsibilities of CitizensWhat citizenship gives you and what it asks of you5 min
  3. Colonial Period and IndependenceFrom the first colonists to the Constitution5 min
  4. The 1800sExpansion, the Civil War, and the fight for rights5 min
  5. Recent History, Geography, and SymbolsThe 1900s to today, plus flags, rivers, and holidays6 min
  6. Civics Timed Simulation: Set A30 items, 30 minutes, exam mode30 min

A whole lesson, start to finish

Not a sample and not a summary. This is all of lesson 2, exactly as it reads in the app.

Lesson 2 of 11 · about 5 min

The Three Branches

Separation of powers and checks and balances

The people who wrote the Constitution had just escaped a king, and they were terrified of creating a new one. Their solution: never let all the power sit in one place. So they split the federal government into three branches, each with its own job.

Here is a way to keep them straight. Imagine a board game. Congress writes the rulebook. The President runs the game and makes sure everyone plays by the rules. The courts are the referees who decide what a rule actually means when players argue about it.

Splitting power into three piles is called separation of powers. But the founders went further: each branch got tools to block the others, a system called checks and balances.

When the test asks what stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful, the answer is checks and balances, or separation of powers.

Know who leads what. The President is in charge of the executive branch. Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal laws. The Supreme Court sits at the top of the judicial branch. Each branch also has its own building in Washington, DC: the Capitol for Congress, the White House for the President, and the Supreme Court building for the justices.

Why does this design matter to you? Because it is slow on purpose. Nothing big happens in American government unless multiple branches agree, which protects against sudden power grabs. When you hear news about a veto, a court striking down a law, or Congress refusing to fund something, you are watching checks and balances work exactly as designed.

Now answer the question that follows it

This is one of 10 questions on that lesson. Pick an answer and it will tell you.

Name one branch or part of the government.

Terms you will own

Cards come back on a schedule built from how well you knew them last time, so the ones you keep missing show up more.

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