Unit 1: Government Basics Review (1 A)

Can we ALL vote for EVERY issue? No.

We use REPresentatives.
REPresentatives = REPublic

Democratic Republic

Citizens are in control! We VOTE!

Democracy

We have a FEDERAL (national) government. We also have STATE governments.
The fact that we have BOTH is federalism.

Federalism

We have 3 SEPARATE branches of government. They are SEPARATE powers.

Separation of Powers

• enforces laws

• makes treaties

• leads armed forces

Executive

Judicial

Legislative

• interprets laws

• makes laws

• creates budgets/deals with financials

• impeaches

Has to deal with one particular area/state.
- local crime
- Driver's Licenses
- taxes

State Issues

Has to deal with the whole country!
- anything having to do with foreign issues
- printing money
- taxes

Federal Issues

*Both: issues such as TAXES could be either federal or state

​Some information just has to be memorized.

How many senators are there in total? 100! (2 per state, 50 states)

How long are Senator terms? 6 years!

How long are House of Representatives terms? 2 years!

How many Supreme Court Justices are there (Judicial Branch)? 9! They serve for life.

Congress

Congress has TWO sections! In Congress, each state has representatives to speak on behalf of the state and write laws.


1. Senate
- This is based on equal representatives, 2 per state

2. House of Representatives
- The representatives for each state are based on population