Governments in the United States

Learning objectives:

1. Understand how the United States government functions

2. Name and understand the three branches of the U.S. government

3. Understand the different powers that come from state and federal governments

Separation of Powers

• Safety feature to ensure that no person would ever have full control of the government

• Divides both the federal and state governments into three branches

1. Legislative branch

2. Executive branch

3. Judicial branch

Legislative branch

• Makes the laws

• Made up of the two houses of Congress (Senate & House of Representatives)

• 435 members in the House of Representatives

• Must be 25 years of age and a citizen of the U.S. for minimum of 9 years

• Two year terms

Legislative branch continued…

• Senate is made up of 100 members

• Must be at least 30 years old

• Must be a citizen of the United States for minimum of 9 years

• Six year terms

Executive branch

• At the federal level, this branch is headed by the President and Vice President

• Both houses of Congress and the President must support a bill in order to make it a law

• Includes 15 departments which are headed by a “secretary”

• Deal with almost every aspect of American life

• Appointed by the President

Executive branch

Judicial branch

• System of courts headed by a judge or justices

• Conducts trials

• Interpret laws passed by the executive and legislative branches

• Used at the federal and state level

• Life terms in the Supreme Court

Safety Features

• Balance of Power/Checks and Balances

• Used so that none of the three branches can rule the other two

• Division of Power- separates the federal and state government

• Delegated powers- powers given to the federal government from the states

• Reserved powers- powers kept by the states for themselves

• Concurrent powers- shared powers by both federal & state governments

Overall Viewhttps://youtu.be/-EISWIY9bG8

Think-Pair-Share

• What would happen if our government did not have these safety features in place?

• Do you think having these safety features is necessary?