Enabling Act

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/enabling-act

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the procedural mandate?Specifies conditions for drafting and ratifying a constitution and establishing governmental institutions
2. Why do countries use Enabling Acts?Countries use Enabling Acts to make sure new governments are created in a legal, orderly way. It shows that the big country agrees and that the people in the new area want to govern themselves.
3. How does an Enabling Act help a territory become a state?First, the big country’s lawmakers pass the act. Then the people in the territory must approve it, write a constitution that follows the big country’s rules, and send it to the big country for final approval.

Sovereign Legislature: The supreme law-making body of an independent state, possessing ultimate authority.
Delegation of Authority: The act of entrusting power or responsibility from a higher authority to a lower one.
Constitutional Convention: A formal assembly convened for the specific purpose of drafting or revising a constitution.