Grade 5 · Social Studies · 2 minutes
The three branches of government
Congress makes laws. The President carries them out. The courts decide what they mean.
Key terms
- Constitution
- The plan, written in 1787, for how the United States government would work.
- legislative branch
- Congress, made of the House and the Senate, whose big job is to make laws.
- executive branch
- The branch led by the President, which carries out the laws and makes sure they are followed.
- judicial branch
- The courts, with the Supreme Court at the top, which decide what laws mean.
- veto
- When the President rejects a bill; Congress can override it with two thirds of the House and Senate.
- checks and balances
- A system where each branch can limit the others so no branch has all the power.
- judicial review
- The Supreme Court's power to strike down a law that goes against the Constitution.
Transcript
Who gets to make the rules for a whole country? In the United States, the answer begins with three famous words: We the People.
In seventeen eighty seven, leaders wrote the Constitution, a plan for how the government would work. To stop any one group from getting too much power, they split the government into three branches.
The first branch is the legislative branch. That's Congress, which meets in the Capitol. Congress has two parts, the House and the Senate, and its big job is to make laws.
The second branch is the executive branch, led by the President, who works in the White House. The President's job is to carry out the laws, and make sure they're followed.
The third branch is the judicial branch. At the top is the Supreme Court, with nine justices. They decide what laws mean, and whether a law follows the Constitution.
Here's the clever part. Each branch can check the others. Say Congress passes a bill, an idea for a new law. The President can reject it with a veto. But if two thirds of the House and two thirds of the Senate vote for it again, they override the veto, and the bill becomes law.
The Supreme Court can check the other two branches as well. If a law goes against the Constitution, the court can strike it down. This power is called judicial review.
So every branch has power, but no branch has all the power. That's called checks and balances, and it helps keep power shared.
So remember: Congress makes the laws. The President carries them out. And the courts decide what they mean.
Sources
Every fact in the video, and where it comes from.
- 1archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
- The Constitution opens with the words 'We the People of the United States'.
- 2archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution
- The Constitution was written and signed in 1787 (signed September 17, 1787).
- 3usa.gov/branches-of-government
- The government is split into three branches (legislative, executive, judicial) so no one branch gets too much power; each branch can respond to the others (checks and balances).
- Congress (the House and the Senate) is the legislative branch and makes laws; it meets in the U.S. Capitol.
- The President leads the executive branch, which carries out and enforces laws; the President lives and works in the White House.
- The Supreme Court and other federal courts interpret what laws mean and decide whether laws violate the Constitution.
- 4supremecourt.gov/about/justices.aspx
- The Supreme Court has nine justices: the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices.
- 5congress.gov/crs_external_products/RS/PDF/RS22654/RS22654.8…
- The President can veto bills passed by Congress; Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate.
- 6ballotpedia.org/Marbury_v._Madison
- Judicial review (the court's power to strike down a law that conflicts with the Constitution) was established in Marbury v. Madison (1803).
- 7house.gov/the-house-explained
- The House of Representatives has 435 voting members; the Senate has 100 senators (two per state).
- 8senate.gov/senators/index.htm
- The House of Representatives has 435 voting members; the Senate has 100 senators (two per state).
Image and sound credits
- “Constitution of the United States, page 1” by the Constitutional Convention, 1787 — U.S. National Archives (Public domain)
- “Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.” by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress (CC0, via rawpixel)
- “White House is official residence” by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress (CC0, via rawpixel)
- “United States Supreme Court Building” by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress (CC0, via rawpixel)
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