Three branches of the U.S. government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Three branches of the U.S. government - Essay Example The U.S. government has three branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary, each performing independently various function that support the functioning of the government. The three branches work independently.Consequently, the singular purpose of having the three branches working separately is to promise that they do not become too powerful to infringe on the freedoms of the population. In analyzing the three branches of the government, we see that all of their functions serve the public differently, and some branches seem to have more power than others in affecting the work of the government. Hence, this essay discusses the legislature because it has done and is doing a lot for the people of the United State (Trueman, 2000). The legislature is comprised of the bicameral Congress, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The two houses are tasked with many functions, but their main purpose is to make legislative laws. The Senate is the upper house with each state represented by two senators in it. The House of Representatives represents the lower house and has a number of elected members proportionate to the population of a state. The Senate has one hundred seats and allows elected members to serve for a six-year term. However, the House of Representatives has a bigger number of members, and currently there are 435 members serving for a two-year term. The House of Representatives and the Senate have almost similar functions, but they also have specific responsibilities and powers. In addition, the two chambers work parallelly to each other in passing the bills that originate from either the Senate or the House of Representative (Wilson, Dilulio, & Bose, 2009). The legislative branch has many functions, but law making is its key function. The executive branch implements and enforces the law, whereas the judiciary branch interprets them. Hence, in serving the people, the legislative branch has the most power given that it is the one that delib erates on the bill that later becomes a law. The input of bills in addressing the challenges people encounter in their daily activities acknowledges the work of the Congress for the benefit of the Americans. Therefore, their service to the people supersedes the enforcing and elucidation of the executive and the judiciary branches. Furthermore, the legislative branch consists of elected members, and thus it represents the heart of representative democracy. When the law makers make laws, they do so in a democratic manner to meet the public interests and to ensure they are upheld (Wilson et al., 2009). In addition to making laws, the legislature has other non-legislative powers and responsibilities. These functions are not in any way related to the legislation of laws. One of the non-legislation powers of the Congress are the electoral powers. The electoral powers are only exercised when the electoral process fails to determine the results of a presidential election. The House of Repre sentatives is privileged to elect the president in cases where no candidate gains a majority Electoral College. On the other hand, the Senate is responsible for electing vice president in case no presidential candidate has enough Electoral College to ensure the victory of his nominee to the position of a vice president (Wilson et al., 2009). The legislative branch also has the non-legislative power of impeachment. The House of Representatives has the power to impeach federal government officials who are deemed to have bribed, committed high crimes, misdemeanors, and treason. While the House has the powers to impeach, the Senate acts as the judge and jury. In the history of the United States, only two presidents have been impeach: Bill Clinton (1998) and Andrew Johnson (1868), who both were acquitted by the Senate. Another non-legislative function of the Congress is the power of confirmation. The senate has the