Children's Constitution
Branches of Government
Our government is made up of 3 branches of government, which is meant to make sure that the president and all those around him (which will be explained later) do not get too powerful. These three branches are the executive (our president and his crew), the judicual (the Supreme court), and the legislative (made up of two houses, the House of Senates and the Bouse of Representatives. Ideally, the duty of this branch is to make laws tht are to be processed).
These 3 branches go by a system called "Checks and Balances," which mean that each of the threee branches of government can limit the powers of the other brancehs so that no one branch becomes too powerful (figure 1).
Figure 1 shoes a metamorphic picture that explains what it is basically like if one branch becomes too powerful.
The Executive Branch
The executive branch consists of the President of the United States, the Vice-President, and The Cabinet. The Cabinet is a group of people that work for the President and help him/her make important decisions. The Executive Branch mainly carries out laws or enforces laws created by the congress. Basically, the executive branch makes sure that everyone is following the law. The president is responsible for carrying out federal laws, commanding armed forces, dealing with foreign policies, recommending new laws, and directing the government.
The Legislative Branch
The legislative Branch includes the Congress and the Congress included The House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 435 members in the House of Representatives and there are 2 senators for each state and there 100 seats. The Senate can approve or reject treaties and presidential nomination for government elections. The House of Representatives handle all bil dealing with money. The Legislative Branch creates laws, raises an army, declares war, coins and prints money, and collect taxes.
The Judicial Branch
The power of the Judicial Branch extends over all the courts in the nation. This means that local state,and national courts and Supreme Courts are in the same system. The Supreme COurt is the highest court in the nation. They make decisions over laws that include two or more states or the whole nation, that involve Constitutional issues. The Supreme Court must decide if government action or laws are constitutional or not. The Judicial branch makes sure laws are working fine with the Constitution. There are many different courts below the federal courts. The Traffic Court settles cases dealing with minor traffic violators. The Family COurt deals with marriage, child custody, child support, and so on.