Compare And Contrast The Three Branches Of Government

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One of the United States most unique characteristics is its provision for three branches of government, Legislative Judicial and Executive. Each branch was given its own set of responsibilities and power, this is known as checks and balances.

Legislative means the power to make laws. The legislative branch is made up by congress. Congress is made up of two parts, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The senate is made up of two senators from each state and the House of Representatives are appointed according to the size of the population in each stat. The Legislative Branch was given the power to pass laws, control federal appropriations and approve treaties and presidential appointments. Both the senate and the house each have their
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The executive branch is made up of the president and his cabinet. The cabinet appointees have to be approved by the senate and the president is appointed by the electoral college. The electoral college is made up of appointed voters that represent their state, the number of electors depends on the total number of senators and representatives. If the electoral college fails to come up with a majority vote for a presidential candidate then Congress has the power to choose both the president and the vice president. The executive branches job is to enforce the laws made by the legislative branch. The Executive branch has the power to propose laws, appoint Supreme Court Justices and federal court judges and the Executive Branch has the power to pardon those convicted in federal court. The President is the commander in chief of the armed forces.

Why was there a need to divide the power amongst the three branches? It’s simple, the founding fathers implemented checks and balances in order to keep one entity to have all of the power. The checks and balances prevent the branches from abusing their powers, requires cooperation between each branch and gives each branch the power to check up on another