Final answer:
Checks and Balances are a core democratic principle in American government that ensures each branch of government has influence over the others to prevent abuse of power. Examples include Congress limiting the president's veto and the system of checks and balances protecting against corruption. Each branch has the authority to check or restrain the powers of others.
Step-by-step explanation:
Checks and Balances are a core democratic principle of American government, whereby each branch of the government (executive, judicial, and legislative) has some measure of influence over the other branches and may choose to block procedures of the other branches.
Other examples of checks and balances include the ability of Congress to limit the president's veto. Should the president veto a bill passed by both houses of Congress, the bill is returned to Congress to be voted on again. If the bill passes both the House of Representatives and the Senate with a two-thirds vote in its favor, it becomes law even though the president has refused to sign it.
The system of checks and balances was designed to create a political system where institutions and political organizations provided a measure of protection against corruption and abuse of power. The Founders thought that the mixed form of government was the best way to avoid what historical experience seemed to indicate was inevitable: the tendency of a political system to become corrupt.
In order to ensure that no one branch of government wields too much power over the others, each branch is given authority to check or restrain some of the powers of the other branches.