Imagine a time when America did not have its own government. Before the American Revolution, the British government created most of the laws for the American colonies. The British decided who had to pay taxes and how that money was used. However, the people in the colonies didn't have a say in who ran the British government.

After they fought and freed themselves from Britain, Americans began to create their own government. Most Americans did not want to give any one person or group too much control again. In this lesson, we will look at how they set up the federal government so that three different branches (parts) share power.

Goals
Here are the big ideas you will learn about in this lesson:

• The U.S. Constitution divides the U.S. government into three branches with different roles
• The three branches were created to prevent any one person or group from controlling the government
• The three branches of the U.S. government are connected and have shared responsibilities

Strategies
You will be using many reading and writing strategies to complete this lesson. The key strategies that you will focus on are:

• Categorizing basic facts and ideas
• Making inferences

• responsibilities
• separation

Today, the federal government is made up of three branches that share the power and responsibility of running the government.

The legislative branch is the U.S. Congress, which has two parts: the Senate and the House of Representatives. One of the main responsibilities of Congress is to write and pass bills that become laws.

The executive branch includes the president, the vice president, and the other people who work directly with them. Their responsibilities include carrying out laws and coming up with a spending plan for the country. They also make treaties, or agreements, with other countries.

The judicial branch is the national court system. The most important court in the U.S. is the Supreme Court. It makes decisions about the meaning of laws.

List two to three reasons why you think it's important to divide responsibilities among different branches of government.

In 1779, John Adams wrote the constitution for Massachusetts, which described how that state government would be run. It was the first constitution to divide up the state's power so that no one person or group would always be in control. Adams believed that everyone—rich or poor—should have a say in the government. This idea was different from an aristocracy—like the one in Britain—where the richest people ran the country.

This video shows more about why John Adams wanted to divide power in this way, first in Massachusetts and later throughout the United States. Click "View" on the left to watch the video.

You will now show what you've learned so far by answering these three questions. Be sure to save all your answers before you go to the next screen.

While each branch of government has its own responsibilities, the U.S. Constitution uses a system of "checks and balances" to keep any one branch from having too much control. Here are some examples:

• When Congress writes a bill, the president can veto (reject) it before it becomes law. Congress can then only pass the bill if more than two-thirds of the members of Congress vote for it.
• The president and his staff create a national budget, but Congress must approve it.
• When the legislative and executive branches can't agree about what a law means, the U.S. Supreme Court can make the final decision.

In two to three sentences, write down what you think the phrase "checks and balances" means.

The work of the U.S. government—whether it is the military, commerce, laws, or other responsibilities—is shared. Read this article to learn more about the balance of power among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

Click "View" on the left to begin the passage.

Write down one job of each branch of the federal government and describe how this work is checked by another branch.

You will now check your understanding of the vocabulary words for this lesson by placing them in sentences. Click "View" on the left to begin the activity.

Before moving to the next screen, choose two words from the vocabulary list and write a new sentence for each word.

Vocabulary words: responsibilities, representatives, separation, and commerce

As you saw and read on the previous screens, the three branches of government share many responsibilities. In this activity, you will sort information on a concept map according to the branch of government that performs each job.

Click "View" on the left to begin the activity. Your teacher will review the answers with you.

Then, before moving on to the final assignment, you may want to watch this lesson's video again or reread the passage.

A Case for the Separation of Powers

Video: 1m 04s

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The Three Branches of Government

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In this lesson, you have learned about the different responsibilities of the three branches of the U.S. government. You will now write an essay that shares what you have learned and what you think about it.

Begin by reviewing your notes. Click "review my work" above and view or print out the screen that pops up.

Final Assignment Instructions

• Click The Powers of Government—Final Assignment (PDF).
• Choose one of the topics in the PDF and write an essay.
• Organize your response so that it includes at least three supporting details that you have learned from the reading passage, video, and other materials in this lesson.
• Use at least three vocabulary words (or form of the words) as part of your supporting details. For example, for the word jump, you could use jumps, jumped, or jumping.