Long ago, the delegates to the Constitutional Confederation were faced head to head with a difficult challenge! They wanted to ensure a strong central government, and they also wanted to ensure that no individual or small group in the government became too powerful. The delegates wanted to avoid any person or groups having absolute power over the government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the government had lacked centralization, and the delegates didn’t want to have that problem again. So, to solve these problems, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a government with three separate branches, each with their own distinct powers. This system would establish a strong central government, while insuring a balance of power!

Now the U.S. federal government has three branches. They are the Executive, (President and about 5,000,000 workers) Legislative (Senate and house of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts).

The President of the U.S. administers the Executive Branch of the government. He enforces laws that the Legislative Branch (congress) makes. The President is elected by the U.S. citizens that are 18 and older. The votes are tallied by states and form the Electoral Collage System. When everyone who wants to vote has all voted, then the president with the most votes wins. That’s how the Executive branch works.

The Legislative part of the government is called Congress. Congress makes the laws. Congress is divided into 2 parts. One part is called the Senate. There are 100 senators (2 from each state). The other part is called the House of Representatives. Representatives gather together to discus ideas and decide if the ideas become laws. There are 435 representatives. Both senators and representatives are elected.

The last branch is called Judicial. The Judicial part of the government includes the Supreme Court and 9 justices. They are special judges who interpret laws according to the constitution. The judges only deal with laws that are related to the constitution. They are the highest court in the country. This judicial system also has lower courts in each state to help with federal issues.

All these parts of the federal government have their main headquarters in the city,
Washington D.C. D.C. meaning Dictrict of Columbia. These are the Branches of the U.S. government.