Social StudiesUnit One

Lesson 2

The Constitution

Civics Standards Covered in This Lesson

• Students will learn about the constitutional separation of powers.

What you will learn from this lesson.

• The constitution states that the government has three jobs. That is why our government has three branches:

• The Legislative Branch

• The Executive Branch

• The Judicial Branch

The Constitution

• This is our book of rules that tells our government how it is supposed to do its work.

The Legislative Branch

• This branch makes the rules or laws for the United States government.

• This branch is called Congress.

Congress

• Congress has two groups:– The U. S. Senate– The U. S. House of Representatives

• These two groups work together to make our laws.

The Executive Branch

• This branch make sure that the government performs its jobs according to the laws that Congress makes.

• The leader of this branch is the president.

• The president also commands the army, navy, and air force, and meets with leaders of other countries.

The Judicial Branch

• This branch contains the courts.

• The courts decide how to:– Punish people who do not obey the laws.– Settle arguments that people cannot settle

themselves.

• Legislative creates laws– House– senate

• Executive approves laws– President– advisors

• Judicial enforces laws

• Students brainstorm what they think would be an important law

What we learned from this lesson.

• The constitution divided our government into three branches to handle three different jobs.

• The Legislative Branch

• The Executive Branch

• The Judicial Branch

The Legislative Branch

• This branch makes the rules or laws for the United States government.

• This branch is called Congress.

The Three Branches of Government – United Streaming

• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=DD9F95CB-72DA-4777-A239-433B719B297C