The Government of the USA

How it works

• America has a federal government.

• The constitution outlines the system of government in the USA.

• There are 3 branches of government.

1. President (Executive)2. Congress (Legislative)3. Supreme Court (judicial)

Levels of government

• There are 3 main levels of government in the USA.

• Each level of government is responsible for different things.

1. Federal Government2. State Government3. Local government • You MUST know the powers of

each and examples of representatives in each.

The Federal Government (Congress)

• The Federal Government, also known as Congress consists of 2 levels;

1. Senate2. House of

Representatives

The Senate

• Responsible for making laws

• 100 members• 2 for each state (original 50

states).• Senators stand for 6 years.• Very influential job – many

Senators now go on to be President e.g. Barack Obama standing in 08 election is Senator for Illinois!

The House of Representatives

• Responsible for putting laws into place.

• 435 members.• Each state is allocated

members depending on its population e.g. California has 53 members.

• Each representative stands for 2 years.

Federal Government Powers

• The Federal government is responsible for the ‘big’ issues e.g.

• The Armed Forces• International Conflict• Prevention of terrorism• US Currency• World Trade• Welfare benefits • Taxation • (Similar to UK Parliament).

State Government

• Each state in the USA has its own government.

• The leader of each state government is called the ‘Governor’.

• This is a very important job – many Presidents in the past were Governors first e.g. George W Bush was the Governor for Texas.

State government powers

• Each state can make laws on issue such as;

• Education • Marriage• Driving / drinking ages• Capital punishment• Each state has their own

police force to enforce the state’s laws.

Local Government

• Within each state, individual towns and cities have their own local level of government.

• They make decisions on / manage very minor issues e.g. refuse collection, recycle facilities etc.

• Equivalent to North Lanarkshire Council.

Federal Representatives

• In Federal elections people elect the President.

• Takes place every 4 years.

• The last election was 2012.

• Voters also elect their Senators and Members of the House of Representatives.

Hilary Clinton is a Senator

for New York.

State Representatives

• Voters elect their State Governor.

• Stand for a four year term.

• Also vote for representatives for the State governments. Arnold

Schwarzenegger was the Governor for California until

recently.

Local Representatives

• Voters vote for their local Mayor, Sheriff and members of the school board, to name but a few!