Of the People, For the People, By the People Government Of the People, For the People, By the People

Essential Question: What do we need the government for anyway Essential Question:  What do we need the government for anyway? What would life be like without governments? Learning Target: I will be able to define the rolls of government and I will be able to differentiate governments by one, or by few, or by many.

Essential Question:  How is the power of the United States government separated and limited? Learning Target: I will be able to describe how the U.S. Constitution limits the power of the government and creates a system of checks and balances.

A New Kind of Government for a New Nation After the American Revolution won independence for the 13 British colonies in America, a new government had to be formed. A group of men who came to be known as “the Founding Fathers” met to decide what kind of government we would have to replace the King of England and the British government.

A Constitutional Democratic Republic The Founding Fathers discussed and debated and eventually decided on a type of government that would be limited and be led by representatives elected by the people (citizens of the new nation). Together, they wrote a document, the Constitution of The United States, that would form the outline or framework for this government.

Limiting of Powers To keep the government from having unlimited power over the people, the Constitution was written to tell what the government could do and what it could not do. The Founding Fathers also specified that the leaders would be elected by the citizens rather than inherit their positions like kings and other royalty. They also defined terms of time to serve after which leaders would have to be re-elected to stay in office. So leaders get to lead only as long as the citizens allow by vote.

Separation of Powers They also did not want all of the power of the government to be in the hands of just one person or even a small group of people. So the Constitution divides the power of the government into three branches. Each branch has specific powers given to it. Anything one branch does can be undone by one of the other two branches. This creates a system of checks and balances so that no one person or group of people becomes too powerful.

Three Branches of Government Legislative Branch Executive Branch Judicial Branch Root word: legislate – to create a new law Root word: execute – to carry out an order or law Root word: adjudicate – to judge or make an official decision about a problem Congress: Senate & House of Representatives President: Office of the White House & Cabinet Court System: Supreme Court & lower courts

Legislative Branch Legislate – to create a new law. Article 1 of The Constitution gives the power to write new laws to the legislative branch know as Congress. Congress is divided into two bodies or “Houses”, one at each end of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. These two bodies are the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Senate At the north end of the capitol building is the Senate chamber or room. There are two senators elected from each state, so there are 100 U.S. Senators. They are elected for six year terms and both senators represent their entire state. The two senators from Texas are: John Cornyn Ted Cruz

House of Representatives At the south end of the capitol building is the House of Representatives chamber or room. Representatives are elected from each state based on population, so there are a different number of Representatives from each state. California has the most, 53 and several states like Wyoming and Alaska only have 1. There are 453 Representatives and 36 are from Texas.

House of Representatives Representatives are elected for two year terms and represent only their home part of the state called a district. Saginaw and the west side of Fort Worth to Weatherford and Decatur are in district 12. Our Representative from District 12: Kay Granger

House of Representatives Saginaw and the west side of Fort Worth to Weatherford and up to Decatur are in district 12. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TX

Legislative Branch Congress has the power to: Print money Approve Presidential appointments Declare war

Executive Branch Execute – to carry out a command or law. Article 2 of The Constitution outlines the office of the President of the United States. The President’s power is to sign into law bills passed by Congress or to veto bills and send them back to Congress.

Executive Branch As chief executive, the President’s job is to make sure all of the laws are enforced and to keep the government running smoothly. The President is elected by the electoral college and serves a four year term. He then can be re-elected once to serve a second and final term.

Executive Branch The executive branch includes the President, Vice-president and the Cabinet. The Cabinet is currently made up of 15 department heads who aide the President in making sure the government runs properly and the laws are carried out. The Cabinet is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Executive Branch The executive branch has the power to: Enforce the law Make treaties with other countries Collect taxes The President also has to report to the Congress on the State of the Union from time to time. Traditionally this is done as a speech.

Judicial Branch Adjudicate – to judge or make an official decision about a problem Article 3 of The Constitution created the Judicial Branch or court system. This includes the Supreme Court, at the highest level and also lower level federal courts.

Judicial Branch The Supreme Court is made up of nine justices. Eight are associate justices and one is Chief Justice. Each was appointed by the President at the time of their appointment and then confirmed by the Senate. Justices are appointed for life. They may retire, or can be impeached by Congress if they violate the law.

Judicial Branch The Supreme Court is responsible for interpreting the law and deciding if new laws are constitutional. If the Court decides a law is unconstitutional, the law is struck down and is no longer a law. So the Court can balance the power of Congress and the President.

Divided Government Power Learning Target: Essential Questions: Your Name Mr. Hunter Social Studies 6 Period ? Feb. 18, 2015 Divided Government Power Holes on this side 2 Write your paragraph here to answer the two essential questions. Rap video for C Notes link Summary:

Sources: Official Government Websites: U. S. Congress https://www.congress.gov/ U. S. Senate http://www.senate.gov/ U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/content/learn/ The Whitehouse www.whitehouse.gov U. S. Supreme Court http://www.supremecourt.gov/ Architect of the Capitol http://www.capitol.gov/ Congress For Kids : http://www.congressforkids.net/index.htm Macmillan Dictionary : www.macmillandictionary.com Google Images Discovery Education http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ World Book Online Stories, videos, pictures: History.com http://www.history.com