• House of Representatives– Duties:

• the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President in the case of an electoral college tie

– Structure:• 435 elected members, divided among

the 50 states in proportion to their total population

• 6 non-voting members, representing the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and five territories of the United States

• Speaker of the House elected by the Representatives to lead meetings– 3rd in the line of succession to

Presidency– Criteria for Office:

• Elected every 2 years and must be 25 years of age, U.S. citizen for at least 7 years, a resident of the state (but not necessarily the district) they represent

• Senate– Duties:

• sole power to confirm President's appointments that require consent, and to ratify treaties, tries impeachment cases for federal officials referred to it by the House.

– Structure:• 100 Senators, 2 for each state• The Vice President= President of the

Senate and may cast the decisive vote in the event of a tie in the Senate

– Criteria for Office• Elected every 6 years, must be 30

years of age, U.S. citizen for at least 9 years, and resident of state they represent

• President’s Responsibilities– Head of State– Head of Government– Implementing/enforcing

laws written by Congress – Appoints the heads of the

federal agencies, including the Cabinet

The Vice President is also part of the Executive Branch ready to assume the

Presidency should the need arise.

• Duties: – Federal courts: sole power to interpret

the law, determine the constitutionality of the law, and apply it to individual cases.• can compel the production of evidence and

testimony through the use of a subpoena. • Once the Supreme Court interprets a law,

inferior courts must apply the Supreme Court's interpretation to the facts of a particular case.

• Structure: – Judges and justices serve no fixed term —

they serve until their death, retirement, or conviction by the Senate.

• Allows them to apply the law with only justice in mind, and not electoral or political concerns

• Criteria– Selected by President

• Federal judges can only be removed through impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction in the Senate.

• U.S. Constitution wanted to protect against a strong national government

• Separated the government’s powers into three branches: the executive, legislative and judicial

• System of “checks and balances.” Each branch has certain powers to “check”, the other branches and make sure that power is balanced among them.

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/our_government/

• Legislative- – Writes laws – Power to veto legislation Power to declare laws unconstitutional

• Executive-– Enforces laws – Can override Executive’s veto Can reject judicial nominations – Power to declare acts of the Executive unconstitutional

• Judicial –– Upholds and protect constitutional laws/strikes down

unconstitutional laws – Nominates federal judges Confirms or rejects federal judicial

nominations

• http://library.thinkquest.org/5873/the.htm

• http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/index.html

• http://highschoolace.com/ace/government.cfm

• http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Images/ChksBalnces.gif• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://sowtp.org/

GraphicU.S.GovernmentBranches.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sowtp.org/Society_Of_We_The_People_Government_Branches.htm&usg=__q525wux1BtWt3eQMCCylJObUBkQ=&h=352&w=558&sz=41&hl=en&start=103&um=1&tbnid=TgK7pF9gTfLmNM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djudicial%2Bbranch%2Bof%2Bu.s.%2Bgovernment%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D84%26um%3D1

• http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Images/Federal Courts.jpg• http://www.idhhc.state.il.us/legislativeprocess/images/legbranch.jpg• http://data.lambdalegal.org/images/fcp_checks-balances_lg.gif• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://data.lambdalegal.org/images/fcp_checks-

balances_lg.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.lambdalegal.org/take-action/campaigns/fair-courts-project/fair-courts-faq.html&usg=__t72FtYOvGJphriizap6tUE74QaY=&h=613&w=580&sz=36&hl=en&start=144&um=1&tbnid=UNQxZRiAirvyiM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchecks%2Band%2Bbalances%2Bof%2Bunited%2Bstates%2Bgovernment%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D126%26um%3D1

• http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:3sqGfQwOwAgJ:www.timeforkids.com/TFK/media/teachers/pdfs/2002F/021115WR1.pdf+checks+and+balances,+explained+for+kids&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us