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3 branches of US federal government
3 branches of the U.S. federal government
3 branches of the U.S. federal government
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Most Powerful Branch of Government
The United States Government is divided into three different branches, among these the most powerful, the Legislative branch. Even though all the three branches, the Legislative, the Judicial and the Executive branch are supposed to have equal power, I consider that the Legislative branch has the most power of all three. The legislative branch consists of congress which is divided into two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. As envisioned by the framers, “The House of Representatives was intended to be truly representative of all the people” (Barbour and Wright, 58). All the decisions made in Congress are influenced by citizens and are made for the common good of every citizen. The legislative
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branch of government is the most powerful because within it rests the power to create laws, override a president’s veto, place taxes on people, coin money and much more. The main role of the legislative branch is lawmaking and representation.
Laws are written, discussed and voted on in congress, it basically lays down government policies. The making of laws is a very essential element for our society to function properly. The laws are made for the whole society to follow; they are made for the people. As stated by Barbour and wright, members of Congress “represent many different Americans with varied interests and goals” (217). The process of creating a law takes into consideration the voice of citizens. In other words, it represents society, “those we elect should represent or look out for, our local interests and carry out our will” (Barbour and Wright, 186). This means that Congress has the job to determine how a certain law will affect or benefit members of society. Without written laws our society wouldn’t be able to function effectively as each of us would be doing whatever we pleased. The world would go out of control and there wouldn’t be regulations on anything. People would commit murders, torture, violent acts and nobody would get punish. Congress has the authority to develop laws or to stop them from being …show more content…
passed. Another power that the Legislative branch has is to override a president’s veto. Any decision made by the President has to go through this branch to get a final approval. Congress has to make the final judgement of whether certain presidential action is or isn’t right. This is a very important power because through this congress has an opportunity to prevent a blocking to a certain bill that has support from the majority of members of Congress. It is an important power to have because it makes sure that the president uses his veto powers responsibly. The Legislative is the only branch that can place taxes on the people, has the ability to regulate trade and has the power to coin money.
All these powers that Congress has are of great importance for the economy. The money from taxes is used for the benefit of all citizens; it helps provide public services to all individuals. As specified by Barbour and Wright, Congress “has the power to provide for economic infrastructure” (192). This means that the money from taxes is used for the public; it is used for the police and fire protection, to build schools, to maintain roads, etc. The ability of Congress to coin money it’s also important because it ensures that all the states use the same type of dollar bills and thus helps maintain a stable economy. The Legislative branch is given the exclusive power to raise and spend money for the
government. In conclusion, the Legislative Branch has the most power in Government. To put it in Barbour’s and Wright’s words, “the U.S. Congress is the longest-running and most powerful democratic legislature in the world” (185). Congress has the overall power to decide who gets what in society and how the resources are distributed among society. Congress has the major roles of lawmaking and representation. “We expect our legislators to address the country’s social and economic problems” (Barbour and Wright, 186), meaning that citizens hold their hope in Congress that it will create laws that will be serving their interests. Congress is responsible for the effectiveness of laws in our society.
September 17, 1787, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; during the heat of summer, in a stuffy assembly room of Independence Hall, a group of delegates gathered. After four months of closed-door quorums, a four page, hand written document was signed by thirty-nine attendees of the Constitutional Convention. This document, has come to be considered, by many, the framework to the greatest form of government every known; the Constitution of the United States. One of the first of its kind, the Constitution laid out the frame work for the government we know today. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people; constructed of three branches; each branch charged with their own responsibilities. Article one established the Congress or Legislative branch, which would be charged with legislative powers. Article two created the Executive branch, providing chief executive powers to a president, who would act in the capacity of Commander in Chief of the Country’s military forces. The President of the United States also acts as head of state to foreign nations and may establish treaties and foreign policies. Additionally, the President and the departments within the Executive branch were established as the arm of government that is responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws written by Congress. Thirdly, under Article three of the Constitution, the Judicial branch was established, and consequently afforded the duty of interpreting the laws, determining the constitutionality of the laws, and apply it to individual cases. The separation of powers is paramount to the system of checks and balances among the three branches; however, although separate they must support the functions of the others. Because of this, the Legislative an...
The United States of America is one of the most powerful nation-states in the world today. The framers of the American Constitution spent a great deal of time and effort into making sure this power wasn’t too centralized in one aspect of the government. They created three branches of government to help maintain a checks and balance system. In this paper I will discuss these three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, for both the state and federal level.
Congress has an extremely vital role in our government and their responsibilities give the American people guidance in many ways. They are responsible for making laws, declaring war, and the approval or disapproval of the appointed officials proposed by the president, such as Supreme Court Justices ("The House Explained"). They are also given the duty of impeachment of the President of the United States if necessary.
When the framers of our revered Constitution came together to produce our governing system, they wanted to avoid the precedent of an all powerful entity that could control its citizens. They broke governments role into three important phases, which were the power to make laws, the power to interpret laws, and the ability to enforce them. To further decentralize these authority holding organizations, they created a system that allowed each of the three sections to have a say in each of the others ability to exercise said authority. This organization of overlapping power is referred to as a checks and balances system and was intended to create three equal powers to govern the United States. Over the years since its creation the initially equal powers have become unbalanced, but to understand how the scales have been tipped, one must understand each branches powers that allow them to carry out their mission, the powers that they have to balance out the other two branches, and the circumstances that have led to a change in the power equation.
Congress and The Presidency Congress as a whole makes laws. When Bills are addressed they must meet the approval of both the House and the Senate in order to become a Law, and then the President can always veto it. Congress also deals with matters of public concern be it something that needs to be investigated or something that needs to be put before the public to raise awareness. Congress is made up of two parts: The Senate and the House of Representatives. Each is granted different powers and responsibilities.
In conclusion, it seems clear to me that the Legislative Branch holds huge power, and in my opinion has the most power of the three. No other branch seems to screams out “We the people” like this one. No other branch offers so many checks and balances to the other branches. This is the branch that writes and passes our laws, can supersede even a presidential veto if it has enough unity from its members within. Congress decides how federal money will be spent, approves presidential appointments, and impeach the President if deemed appropriately within.
Congress is split into two large bicameral legislatures, the house of representatives and the senate. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to enact legislation and declare war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers which shows how they have too much power because even though they are split into two separate entities, they can share and overtake other parts of the government and basically do whatever they want from making laws to declaring war.
It has been said that the U.S. Constitution is deliberately inefficient because of it forces the other branches to check the powers eliminating one becoming more dominant than the other two. The three branches of government are legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch enacts federal laws on a national level in Congress, which is comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The executive bran...
American politics is often defined by a continuing power conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of the government. This struggle for political power between the two stronger branches of the three is inherent in the Constitution, itself. The concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances ensure that the branches of government will remain in conflict and provide a balance that keeps the entire government under control. As it was first established, the executive branch was much smaller and weaker than as we know it today. Consequently, the legislative branch was unquestionably dominant. Over the course of history, the executive branch grew in both size and power to the point where it occasionally overtook the legislative and today rivals the legislative in a much closer political battle. Today both branches have major factors that contribute to their power, but on the whole the legislative remains the lastingly dominant branch.
In conclusion, The Legislative Branch is the most powerful branch of the United States government not only because of the powers given to them by the Constitution, but also the implied powers that Congress has. There is also Congress’s ability to triumph over the Checks and balances that limits their power. The only thing truly holding The Legislative Branch back from gaining all the power, is the large amount of people involved in the process and their difference and ideologies, and that Congress is split into multiple houses, with public opinion and elections affecting half of the branch of government. Therefore, The Legislative Branch is the most powerful branch of the United States Government.
Judiciary as the Most Powerful Branch of Government In answering this question I will first paint a picture of the power that the court holds, and decide whether this is governmental power. Then I will outline the balances that the court must maintain in its decision making and therefore the checks on its actions as an institution that governs America. "Scarcely any political question arises that is not resolved sooner or later into a judicial question." (Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America) If we take Tocqueville on his word then the American Judiciary truly is in a powerful position.
The United States government braces its power among three powerful branches, legislative, executive and judicial. These branches interact with one another to establish authority that is strong, yet equal to have power over the country. Each branch pursues certain responsibilities and duties to operate in an efficient and effective manner in which society upholds. The executive, legislative and judicial branches all interact amid each other to validate accuracy of the nation’s most powerful law of the land, the Constitution. It is important to know how these branches interact with each other to learn how a bill becomes a law. Reflecting on how the three branches promote a balance of power that is constructive to include the agendas and electoral roles that also plays a vast part in the government’s operation.
In our countries government, Congress plays a major role in decision making. They’re primary role is to pass laws. These laws start off as bills. Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress. Although these bills only come from Congressman, there are many people who influence these bills. Such as the president, regular citizens, offices in the executive branch, and many others. The bills right off the bat do not have a very good chance of passage. Only one out of every ten bills even gets any attention at all. This is because they must go through many tests and hearings before they even have a chance of landing on the president’s desk. These steps in a bill becoming a law are very important, and make sure that all bills passed into law are the best of the best.
The legislative Branch is a powerful part of our governmental system. One of the strengths of it is that it has powers that no other branch has. The legislative branch, including both the House of Representatives and the Senate, is given extensive powers by the Constitution. The legislative branch is the only branch that can create laws or change existing laws. In addition to creating and changing laws, the legislative branch has an array of powers such as: the power to declare war, confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, impeach a federal official, to include the president or a justice of the Supreme Court, create annual federal budgets and direct how federal monies are spent, and extensive investigative powers. Essentially, one of the legislatives branches’ greater powers to creating and changing laws do not yield there; additionally, if the President vetoes a bill, they may override his veto by passing a bill again in each chamber as long as the chambers can get at least a two-third voting in favor of the bill. An example would if the President wants to create a program and/or a system, he will have to go through Congress for approval of the
The primary function of the legislative branch is to make laws. Although the bicameral Congress has several enumerated and implied powers, such as declaring war, regulating both foreign and interstate commerce, and establishing post offices, none of these powers is more significant than their main task of lawmaking. When created within a nation, laws are a set of rules which that nation’s society must abide by. Laws impact nearly every facet of how that society functions, from economics to politics. Each time the Senators and Representatives propose a new bill which becomes a law, they wield a massive amount of power that affects the lives of over 311 million Americans. When it comes to which branch has the most power, this power alone, to produce an effect over the American society, is what sets the legislative branch above the judicial and executive branches.