Section 2: The Three Branches of Government

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Section 2 The Three Branches of Government

• The Main Idea
• The Constitution prevents any person, or any part
  of the government, from taking too much power.
  It does this by creating three separate branches
  of the federal government and distributing power
  among them.
• Reading Focus
• Why does the Constitution provide for the
  separation of powers?
• What are the main responsibilities of each of the
  three branches of government?
• How does the system of checks and balances work?

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Principles Underlying the Constitution

• The Framers embraced five principles as the
  backbone of the Constitution
• popular sovereignty
• rule of law
• separation of powers
• checks and balances
• federalism

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Popular Sovereignty

• Article IV guarantees a republic, in which
  supreme power belongs to the people (popular
  sovereignty).
• The people express their will through elected
  representatives.
• Provisions, such as those about the right to
  vote, ensure popular sovereignty

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Rule of Law

• Government is limited by the rule of law. This
  means that the law applies to everyone, even
  those who govern.

No One is Above the Law!
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Separation of Powers

• To keep any one person or group from becoming too
  powerful, the Framers divided government into
  three branches with different functions.
• This split of authority among the legislative,
  executive, and judicial branches is called the
  separation of powers.

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Baron de Montesquieu

• French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu believed
  that the best way to protect the liberty of the
  people was to clearly separate the legislative,
  executive and judicial functions and assign each
  to a separate governmental branch.

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The Constitution provides for the separation of
powers.

• Ensures no person or branch of government is too
  powerful
• Distributes power among three branches of
  government
• Legislative
• Judicial
• Executive

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Responsibilities of the three branches of
government

• Legislativethe lawmaking branch
• Executiveexecutes the countrys laws
• Judicialinterprets laws and punishes law
  breakers

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The system of checks and balances

• Each branch has powers no other branch can
  assume.
• Each branch has powers that limit the powers of
  the other branches.

Checks and balances keep any one branch from
becoming too powerful. Each branch can check, or
restrain, the power of the others. For example,
the president can veto laws, Congress can block
presidential appointments, and the Supreme Court
can overturn laws it finds contrary to
the Constitution.
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Question Why does the Constitution provide for
the separation of powers?
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Question Why does the Constitution provide for
the separation of powers?
Executive
to ensure that no one branch of the U.S.
government becomes too powerful
Legislative
Judicial
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The Constitution and Its Parts

• The Constitution has three main parts
  the Preamble, seven articles and 27
  amendments.

Preamble
7 Articles
27 Amendments
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The Preamble

• The Preamble states the goals and purposes of
  government. The first part makes clear that
  government gets its power from the people and
  exists to serve them.
• The Preamble states six purposes
• To form a more perfect Union
• To establish Justice
• To insure domestic Tranquility
• To provide for the common defense
• To promote the general Welfare
• To secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
  and our Posterity

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The Articles

• The articles explain how government is to work.
• The first three articles describe the powers and
  responsibilities of the three branches of
  government.

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Article I Legislative Branch

• Article I describes the legislative branch as two
  houses with lawmaking authority.
• It then describes how members will be chosen.
• The article also lists specific powers Congress
  does and does not have.

The House
The Senate
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Article II Executive Branch

• Article II establishes the executive, or
  law-enforcing, branch headed by a president and
  vice president.
• It explains how these leaders will be elected and
  can be removed, and describes their powers and
  duties.

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Article III Judicial Branch

• Article III establishes the judicial branch to
  interpret and apply the laws.
• It calls for one Supreme Court plus lower courts
  and describes the powers of federal courts.

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Article IV, V, VI VII

• Article IV says that all states must respect one
  anothers laws and explains the process of
  creating new states.
• Article V specifies how the Constitution can be
  amended.
• Article VI declares that the Constitution is the
  supreme Law of the Land and federal law
  prevails over state law.
• Article VII states that the Constitution would
  take effect when nine states ratify it.