What Are The Three Branches Of The Federal Government

The federal government of the United States is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The powers of these branches are vested by the U.S. constitution in the Congress, the president and the federal courts.

The legislative branch of the U.S. government is the United States Congress. It is a bicameral system, meaning it has both an upper and a lower house: The Senate and the House of Representatives respectively. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election. In the vast majority of cases members of congress are affiliated with either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party and only very rarely to a third-party or as independents. The members of the House of Representatives number 435 and serve two-year terms. They represent the people of a single constituency called a district. Districts determined proportionally to population, while each state has two senators, independent of their population. Senators number 100 and are elected for six-year terms.
The powers of U.S. Congress were mostly set up in article one of the U.S. Constitution. Congress holds authority over financial and budgetary matters. It can set and collect taxes and duties to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.
consists of the Supreme Court of the United States and other lower federal courts. The Supreme Court was created through the constitution and the power of creating lower courts is hold exclusively by Congress. The Supreme Court acts as a ‘court of last resort’. The Supreme Court is able to choose which cases to hear and there is not right of appeal to the Supreme Court. Only in situations where states participate in lawsuits against other states or the federal government does the Supreme Court sit as a court of original