Key term
AQA A-Level Politics 7152
The Nature and Sources of the British Constitution
The Structure and Role of Parliament
The Prime Minister and Cabinet
The UK Judiciary
Devolution
Democracy and Participation
Topic overviewDemocracy, Legitimacy and Direct DemocracyDirect and Representative Democracy ComparedThe Reform Acts of 1832 to 1884 and the ChartistsSuffragists and SuffragettesWho Can Vote Today, and Votes at 16Forms of Political ParticipationTurnout, Apathy and Proposals for ReformPartisan and Class Dealignment
Elections and Referendums
Topic overviewMajoritarian and Proportional SystemsThe Additional Member System, STV and Other SystemsThe 1945 and 1979 General ElectionsThe 1997 and 2010 General ElectionsModels of Voting BehaviourLeadership, Manifestos, Campaigns and the MediaThe Nature and Use of ReferendumsRegulating Referendums, and the Case For and Against
Political Parties in the UK
Pressure Groups in the UK
The UK and the European Union
The Constitutional Framework of US Government
Congress
The US Presidency
The US Supreme Court
US Elections and Direct Democracy
Topic overviewCongressional Elections and Electoral College VotesThe Electoral CollegeThe Invisible Primary, Primaries and CaucusesSuper Tuesday, Momentum and DelegatesWhat Decides a US ElectionCampaign Finance RegulationParty Coalitions and Voting BehaviourRealignment, Dealignment, Split-Ticket Voting and TurnoutDirect Democracy at State Level
Political Parties in the USA
Pressure Groups in the USA
Civil Rights in the USA
Comparative Politics: Theoretical Approaches
Constitutions and Legislatures Compared
The Executives Compared
The Judiciaries Compared
Electoral and Party Systems Compared
Pressure Groups Compared
Civil Rights Compared
Liberalism
Conservatism
Socialism
NationalismIdeology
FeminismIdeology
MulticulturalismIdeology
AnarchismIdeology
The Constitutional Framework of US Government
- 6 subtopics
- 18 things to know
- Paper 2
What The Constitutional Framework of US Government covers
A codified, entrenched constitution and what follows from it: the separation of powers and the checks each branch holds, the federal division of authority, and how the document changes.
The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The Nature of the US ConstitutionRecall questions on when and where it was written, what makes it codified and entrenched, and where sovereignty ultimately rests.Open →
- Checks and Balances and Constitutional PrinciplesRecall questions on the checks each branch holds over the others, enumerated and implied powers, the supremacy clause and limited government, and whether the Constitution's principles strengthen or weaken US government.Open →
- Federalism and the Division of PowersRecall questions on federalism and the Tenth Amendment, reserved and concurrent powers, dual, cooperative and New Federalism, grants and unfunded mandates, and how the commerce clause has expanded federal power.Open →
- Coercive Federalism and Federal-State DisputesRecall questions on coercive federalism, the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment and who settles the boundary between federal and state authority.Open →
- Amending the ConstitutionRecall questions on the Article that governs amendment, the two routes to proposal, the two routes to ratification and the number of states needed.Open →
- Informal Constitutional Change and the Rights AmendmentsRecall questions on how constitutional meaning changes without amendment, the rights protected by the Bill of Rights and later amendments, the doctrine of incorporation, and whether the Constitution still serves the United States well.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
State what each of the first three Articles of the Constitution establishes.
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Define the separation of powers as the Constitution applies it.
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Give three checks the Constitution grants Congress over the president.
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Define federalism.
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State the terms of office the Constitution sets for the House, the Senate and the presidency.
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Which amendment reserves undelegated powers to the states, and what does it say?
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Give three powers reserved to the states.
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Describe dual federalism.
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How did the Fourteenth Amendment change federal-state relations?
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A state legalises a drug that federal law still prohibits. What is the constitutional position?
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Why are states described as 'laboratories of democracy'?
Numbers
What is the significance of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment's history?
Key term
State the two ways a proposed amendment can be ratified.
Numbers
How many amendments have been made, and how many since the Bill of Rights?
Numbers
Explain how rights protection can be reduced without any amendment being passed.
Key term
If formal amendment is so hard, how does constitutional meaning actually change?
Numbers
Which amendments extended the suffrage to women and to eighteen-year-olds?
Take The Constitutional Framework of US Government further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Categorical grant vs Block grant
Categorical grant: funding tied to narrowly specified purposes. Block grant: funding allowing broad recipient discretion.
Enumerated powers vs Implied powers
Enumerated powers: authority expressly listed in the founding document. Implied powers: authority inferred from expressly granted functions.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
In which year was the US Constitution written, and where?
Model answer
It was drafted in 1787 at the Philadelphia Convention, and came into force in 1789.
- 2
What does it mean to describe the US Constitution as codified?
Model answer
Its rules are gathered into a single authoritative written document that stands above ordinary law.
- 3
Explain why the US Constitution is described as entrenched.
Model answer
It can only be altered by a deliberately demanding amendment process, so it is protected against change by an ordinary legislative majority.
- 4
Where does sovereignty ultimately lie in the US system?
Model answer
Sovereignty lies with the Constitution itself, which derives its authority from the people rather than from the legislature.
- 5
What does the opening phrase of the Preamble, 'We the People', signal about the document's authority?
Model answer
It asserts popular sovereignty, grounding the Constitution's legitimacy in the citizens rather than in the states or a monarch.
- 6
State what each of the first three Articles of the Constitution establishes.
Model answer
Article I establishes the legislature, Article II the executive presidency and Article III the judiciary.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
The Constitutional Framework of US Government revision questions
- What does The Constitutional Framework of US Government cover in AQA A-Level Politics?
- 6 subtopics: the nature of the us constitution, checks and balances and constitutional principles, federalism and the division of powers, coercive federalism and federal-state disputes, amending the constitution and informal constitutional change and the rights amendments. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is The Constitutional Framework of US Government organised?
- By the AQA 7152 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in The Constitutional Framework of US Government, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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