Government Structure Overview
The current United States Government is split into three main parts:
The Government is split into three parts because of the idea of separation of powers. Each of the three branches of government has specific checks and balances it performs in order to make sure the other is doing its job. This makes sure that one branch does not become too powerful or abuse its powers.
- The Legislative Branch- Congress: The senate and The House of Representatives
- The Executive Branch- The President and The Cabinet
- The Judicial Branch- The Supreme Court and its Judges
The Government is split into three parts because of the idea of separation of powers. Each of the three branches of government has specific checks and balances it performs in order to make sure the other is doing its job. This makes sure that one branch does not become too powerful or abuse its powers.
Government Structure in Depth
The United States Government is large, powerful, and sometimes confusing to understand. However, the United States Government is actually a very well organized system that operates in a extremely efficient way. The U.S. Government is broken apart into three major branches, as listed above.
Legislative Branch: Congress is the law making body of the government, and is divided into two parts: The Senate and The House of Representatives. The Senate is made up of exactly 100 senators, two senators from each state. The House of Representatives is made up of 435 total representatives. Representatives for the House is determined by each state's population size. The more people in the state, the more representatives it will have. This dual body system of The Senate and The House of Representatives keeps balance in Congress.
Executive Branch: The Executive Branch is the branch that is tasked for carrying out laws. It consists of The President of The United States and his Presidential Cabinet. The Cabinet is a group of 15 departments that monitor key happenings within and outside of the U.S. Each department consists of multiple agencies that carry out the tasks that need to be done, in order for the department to run efficiently. For example, The Department of the Treasury includes an agency called the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to monitor all taxes in the U.S.
Judicial: The Judicial Branch is tasked with interpreting laws and deciding what is constitutional and what is not. The Judicial Branch consists of the Supreme Court, which handles popular and controversial court cases. Many decisions that the Supreme Court makes on court cases brought to its attention, have changed the course of our history.
Legislative Branch: Congress is the law making body of the government, and is divided into two parts: The Senate and The House of Representatives. The Senate is made up of exactly 100 senators, two senators from each state. The House of Representatives is made up of 435 total representatives. Representatives for the House is determined by each state's population size. The more people in the state, the more representatives it will have. This dual body system of The Senate and The House of Representatives keeps balance in Congress.
Executive Branch: The Executive Branch is the branch that is tasked for carrying out laws. It consists of The President of The United States and his Presidential Cabinet. The Cabinet is a group of 15 departments that monitor key happenings within and outside of the U.S. Each department consists of multiple agencies that carry out the tasks that need to be done, in order for the department to run efficiently. For example, The Department of the Treasury includes an agency called the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to monitor all taxes in the U.S.
Judicial: The Judicial Branch is tasked with interpreting laws and deciding what is constitutional and what is not. The Judicial Branch consists of the Supreme Court, which handles popular and controversial court cases. Many decisions that the Supreme Court makes on court cases brought to its attention, have changed the course of our history.