Civics

The First Branch

by Megan McGunigle

Fill in the Blanks

The

Branch is the First Branch of Government

​The Legislative Branch

• ​The First Branch of Government is the legislative branch

  • ​The legislative branch is made up of Congress

  • Congress creates laws or legislation

  • Congress is bicameral, meaning it is broken up into two houses or chambers.

    • House of Representatives

    • Senate​

Open Ended

Why have two bodies of Congress?

​The Great Compromise

• Settled the debate over whether representation in Congress should be based on population or equal for every state.

  • ​Established the Senate as the upper house of the legislative branch

    • Equal Representation ​

  • ​Established the House of Representatives as the lower legislative branch.

    • ​Proportional Representation

• ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAPD_Awq4Lc

​The Senate

​

• Has equal representation

  • ​Each state gets 2 senators

  • ​100 Senators total

  • ​Staggered 6 year terms

• ​Designed to protect states' rights

  • ​Acts like a jury during impeachment trials, approves U.S. treaties, confirms presidential nominees.

  • ​Senators can filibuster, when a senator uses debate on purpose to stall or stop voting on a bill.

• ​There are 3 requirements to being a senator:

  • ​Must be 30 years old

  • ​Citizen for 9 years

  • ​Must live in the state that they represent

​House of Representatives

• ​Proportional Representation

  • ​Each state gets a number of representatives proportional to their population size.

  • ​There are 435 voting members of the House of Representatives

• ​Unlike senators, because of its size, members of the House do not get unlimited speaking time and not every member has the ability to speak.

​The House of Representatives

• ​The only branch of government that has been directly elected by American voters since it was created.

• ​House members are elected by and represent the people in their district

• ​Members of the House are elected every two years

• ​To be a member of the House you must:

  • ​Be at least 25 years old

  • ​Citizen for 7 years

  • ​Live in the state and district they will represent when elected

​What can the legislative branch do?

• ​The legislative branch has two types of powers:

  • ​Expressed (or enumerated)

  • ​Implied

• ​Expressed: Powers that are explicitly written in the Constitution. There are 27 expressed powers.

  • ​Ex: establish courts, enact taxes, declare war, etc.

• ​Implied: Powers that are not written line for line, but are necessary in order to carry out the job.

​Where did implied powers come from?

• ​The Necessary and Proper Clause

  • ​This clause allows Congress to do whatever is necessary in order to make the United States better and more secure.

  • ​Also known as the elastic clause

• ​An example of this clause in action is the establishment of the National Bank

  • ​It is an expressed power that Congress is allowed to collect and enact taxes

  • ​Therefore, it is necessary and proper for Congress to establish a National Bank to aid that collection.

Multiple Choice

How many years do Senators serve for?

• 2 years

• 7 years

• 6 years

• 4 years

Multiple Choice

What is another name for the "Necessary and Proper" Clause?

• The Rubber Clause

• The Elastic Clause

• The Band Clause

• The Flex Clause

Multiple Choice

How many members are in the House of Representatives?

• 100
• 250
• 435
• 535

Multiple Choice

Which term means "having two houses"?

• Bicameral
• Bipartiasan
• Two-party
• Two-housal

Multiple Choice

Which article of the Constitution creates Congress?

• Article I
• Article II
• Article III
• Preamble

Multiple Choice

How long do Senate candidates have to live in the US before they run?

• 5 years
• 7 years
• 9 years
• 14 years

Multiple Choice

How many members are in the Senate?

• 100
• 250
• 435
• 535

Multiple Choice

A power given by the "necessary and proper" clause?

• Implied powers
• Inherent powers
• Concurrent powers
• Concurrent powers

Multiple Choice

Each state has ____ number of senators.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• based on states population