If checks and balances didn't exist, there would be nothing stopping a group i.e. the president, from making whatever laws they wanted. In essence, if there are no checks and balances, government is no longer a democracy because nothing prevents the group in power from doing what they want. For example, a president that wasn't checked by the opposition party could pass a law saying that they are legally allowed to be president until they die, and nobody would stop them.
A lot of what we know about the Ancient Egyptians comes from their art. From the many pieces of art they created we can learn things like what they looked like, what kind of clothes they wore, what jobs they worked, and what they considered important.
The colonies were founded by the United Kingdom. Most of the colonists had a positive attitude because of this. Many of their families lived in Britain at the time as well, but they also had come from Britain.