Civics
The Civics domain of the Florida Civics EOC tests how the U.S. and Florida constitutions organize power, protect rights, and create opportunities for citizens to act. Florida's constitution mirrors this structure with a bicameral legislature and its own declaration of rights. Most items are scenario-based: you are given a brief event and asked which principle, branch, or document feature it illustrates.
The principles examiners expect you to distinguish
- Popular sovereignty: ultimate authority belongs to the people; it appears in the Preamble ("We the People") and in voting.
- Limited government and rule of law: no one, including officials, is above the law; government powers are enumerated.
- Separation of powers: Article I gives legislative power to Congress, Article II executive power to the president, and Article III judicial power to the courts.
- Checks and balances: each branch can block or influence the others-veto, override, Senate confirmation, judicial review.
- Federalism: power is divided between the national government and the states; the supremacy clause makes valid federal law supreme, while the Tenth Amendment reserves undelegated powers to the states or the people.
- Individual rights: the Bill of Rights lists limits on the national government; the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause later applied most of those protections to the states.
Worked example
A state law requires a permit before a group can hold a peaceful protest. A federal court strikes down the law, citing the First Amendment. Which principle is the court applying? Reasoning: The First Amendment protects assembly and speech. The Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause incorporates that protection against state governments. The court is enforcing individual rights against a state, not merely separating national powers. Answer: individual rights protected by the Bill of Rights and applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Traps that cost marks
- Separation of powers vs. checks and balances: separation assigns each branch its own function; checks are the overlapping powers that let one branch restrain another. A veto is a check, not a separation.
- Federalism vs. separation of powers: federalism is national vs. state; separation is among the three national branches.
- Matching the branch to the clause: Congress regulates interstate commerce and declares war; the president commands the military and negotiates treaties (Senate ratifies); courts interpret law.
- The amendment process: Article V requires two-thirds of both houses of Congress or a national convention, then ratification by three-fourths of states.