After a brief review of the key points from yesterday's session, today's lesson concentrated on the powers of Congress. We read materials and learned that Congress is a law-making and chief legislative body. It establishes procedures for passing bills and places various limits on the powers of Congress and the states from abusing their powers. We listed some of the powers of Article 1, including collecting taxes, paying debts, and providing for the common defense. Ben found some of the duties on the list humorous, such as Congress's ability to punish pirates. We defined some relevant vocabulary terms, such as 'ratify,’ which came up in discussion. Ben had heard the term but needed help with its definition and use in an example. We defined it as signing or give formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement in order to make it officially valid. An example of this would be that if somebody 'ratified' the Constitution, it would mean that they accepted it and made it valid. We next discussed Article II of the Constitution, and described the job of the Executive Branch as one that 'executes' or carries out, and enforces laws. Ben learned from his readings that the president heads this branch. We also noted that Article II describes who qualifies to be president, what powers the office has, and what happens if a president misbehaves. It also explains the Electoral College, which is the process of how the president is elected. We concluded today's session summarizing some of the duties of president outlined in Article II, one of which is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Next week, we will learn additional duties that Article II gives the president. When queried, Ben demonstrated his understanding of material reviewed. We summarized that the purpose of giving the three different branches of government separate powers is so that each has to cooperate with the other two in order to accomplish policy-making goals, and that this ‘check and balances system’ ensures that no one branch can become too powerful because each branch has the power to check the other two. Ben was very polite, responsive, and cooperative throughout our session. Before leaving, he thanked me and wished me a happy Easter.