1. The Three Branches of Government

2. What does the Legislative Branch ~ Congress ~ do?
National Legislature
Makes the laws for the United States.

3. Legislative Branch structure
The Congress is divided into two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The House of Representatives is known as the lower House.
The Senate is known as the upper House.

4. Legislative Branch leadership
The Speaker of the House is the leader in the House of Representatives.
The Vice-President is the leader (president) of the Senate.
If he/she is not there then the President pro-tempore (temporary president) is in charge.

5. Legislative Branch Power
What is this branch’s power?
All together the Constitution gave the Congress 18 delegated powers. These are some of them.
The main power of the Congress is to make laws.
To make and borrow money for the U.S.A.
To regulate trade.
Establish a post office and build roads.
Declare war.
To establish inferior (lower) courts to the Supreme Court.

6. Legislative Branch – Elastic Clause
The “Elastic” Clause gave the Congress the power to make all laws that they see as necessary and proper to deal with the changing needs of the country. These implied powers are not specifically stated in the Constitution.
Example:
Alexander Hamilton and the First Bank of the United States
Hamilton wanted to create a bank for the United States government. Many people opposed this because the Constitution did not specifically give the government that power. Hamilton won has argument saying that a national bank was necessary and proper.

7. Legislative Branch Term of office
Term of office for the House of Representatives is 2 years.
Term of office for the Senate is 6 years.
A representative or senator may serve an unlimited number of terms.

8. Legislative Branch Office Qualifications
The qualifications to be a representative are:
1) 25 years of age.
2) 7 years a citizen of the U.S.A.
3) Must live in the state that they represent.
The qualifications to be a senator are:
1) 30 years of age.
2) 9 years a citizen of the U.S.A.

9. What is the job of the Executive Branch?
The Executive Branch is responsible for enforcing the laws made by the Congress.

10. Executive Branch Structure and Leadership
The Executive branch consists of the
President and
Vice-President
White House Staff
special advisory groups to the President
the Cabinet

11. Executive Branch Structure and Leadership
There are 15 cabinet positions.
Each position is called a department and is headed by a secretary.
The Cabinet serves as a group of advisors to the President.
The President appoints the secretaries to head each department.
The Senate must approve these appointments

12. Executive Branch Departments (Cabinet)
State
Treasury
Defense
Interior
Justice
Agriculture
Commerce
Labor
Health and Human Services
Housing and Urban Development
Transportation
Energy
Education
Veterans’ Affairs
Homeland Security

13. Executive Branch Power
What is this branch’s power?
The President acts as Commander in Chief of all the armed forces.
Can make treaties with foreign nations. (Must be approved by the Senate)
Appoints federal judges, and ambassadors to foreign nations. (Must be approved by the Senate)
Can make laws by getting a member of Congress to propose a bill on behalf of the President.
President can also make laws through an executive order, which has the effect of law if Congress does not object.
Once a year the President gives a State of the Union Address (speech) where he/ she outlines how the nation is doing and what their policies will be for the following year.

14. Executive Branch ~ President
Term of office:
The term of office for the President is 4 years.
A President may only serve 2 terms in office.

15. Executive Branch ~ President
The qualifications to be President are;
35 years of age.
A natural born citizen of the United States.
Must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

16. The Judicial Branch

17. Judicial Branch
Look at laws, and actions taken by the government and see if they are constitutional (don’t go against the Constitution)

18. Judicial Branch Structure
What is the structure and leadership of this branch?
The Judicial Branch consists of the Supreme Court, and all the other lower Federal Courts that Congress creates.

19. Judicial Branch Structure
What is the structure and leadership of this branch?
The Supreme Court consists of 9 people altogether.
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Samuel Alito
Stephen Breyer
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Elena Kagan
Anthony Kennedy
Antonin Scalia
Sonia Sotomayor
Clarence Thomas

20. Judicial Branch Power What is this branch’s power?
The Constitution says very little about what powers this branch will have.
Acts as the final court of appeals.
They are the last court to hear a case that has been appealed from a lower federal or state court.
The main power of the Supreme Court is Judicial Review.
This is the Court’s power to declare laws or actions made by the other two branches unconstitutional.
This power of Judicial Review is not directly given to the Supreme Court in the Constitution, but was created in a very famous Supreme Court case called Marbury vs. Madison by the Chief Justice at that time John Marshall.

21. Judicial Branch Power
The main power of the Supreme Court is Judicial Review.
This is the Court’s power to declare laws or actions made by the other two branches unconstitutional.
This power of Judicial Review is not directly given to the Supreme Court in the Constitution, but was created in a very famous Supreme Court case called Marbury vs. Madison by the Chief Justice at that time John Marshall.

22. Judicial Branch ~ Supreme Court
Term of office and qualifications:
The Constitution doesn’t set any qualifications to on the Supreme Court.
Members of the Supreme Court are appointed for life by the President of the United States.
The appointment must be approved by the Senate.

23. How does a Bill become a Law?
All laws start out as a bill, or a proposed law.
The process of turning a bill into a law is very difficult.
The Founding Fathers made it this way so everyone would have time to think about the decisions they were making.
A bill can be written and introduced into the Congress by any of its member.
A bill may start in either house of the Congress.
Bills must always be introduced, or start in the House of Representatives.
Except bills dealing with money (like taxes or spending $)

24. Committees
Once a person becomes a member of the House of Representatives or Senate he/ she serves on a Congressional Committee.
These committees look at proposed bills (laws) and decide if the bills should be sent to either the Senate or House of Reps to be voted on.
Each committee looks at bills that deal with a certain area.
Example: Money, Education, Military Programs.

25. Three Branches of the Federal Government
What are checks and balances?
Each branch can limit the power of the other two branches.
This makes sure no one part of the government has too much power.