Structure of the Fed. Gov

Structure of the Fed. Gov

The Three Branches (CE.6a)

The Legislative Branch

Congress makes up the Legislative branch. They are responsible for making all of the laws and is the group responsible for declaring WAR. Congress is bicameral, meaning that there are two chambers within Congress. The first is called the Senate; each state has two senators, equalling 100 Senators total.

Next is the House of Representatives. This chamber is much larger -- there are 435 total Representatives. This is because the number of Representatives per state is based on that state's population. Some states have more Representatives, some have less.

The Executive Branch

The Executive Branch is run by the President, Vice President, and the President's Cabinet (a group of people who help them run the country). We have a new election every four years after the end of the President's term. The next one will be in 2024.

The President has many jobs; the first is that they are the head of the military. They are also able to propose laws and approve bills. That is a very important role that the president holds.

The Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch makes up our courts system. There are many levels of lower courts, and the highest court of the United States is the Supreme Court.

There are 9 Justices on the Supreme Court. Their extremely important job is to decide whether a law created by Congress is Constitutional or Unconstitutional -- meaning that it is a bad law. This means that the Supreme Court has the final say with our laws.