United States Government Exploring The Three

Branches of Government
Visit the first site: www.usa.gov/agencies/federal.shtml and spend a few minutes exploring.
When youre ready to begin follow these steps:
To begin click on The Executive Branch and explore three members of the Executive Office of
the President and write two sentences for each position:
1.____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Next, explore and list eight Executive Departments:
1.
3.
5.
7.

2.
4.
6.
8.

For the next section go back and click into The Judicial Branch and look over the section
entitled Recent Decisions. Choose the four most recent decisions take a few minutes to read
over the syllabus of each decision and then list the name of each case:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Next, go to the tab entitled Supreme Court Information, About the Supreme Court, and click on
Brief Overview. Who is the current Chief Justice of the United States Judicial Branch? Who are
the eight Associate Justices?
1. Chief Justice - ____________________________
Associate Justices1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
For the final section of this website go back to the home page and click on The Legislative
Branch. Take a few minutes exploring this site.
+What are the Two Main Houses of the United States Congress within the Legislative Branch
and what are the main features of representation within each house?
United States Congress
1st House- ________________
Representation- __________________________________________________________
2nd House- ________________
Representation- __________________________________________________________

The second website that we will be exploring will be:

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/

Go to this site and click around on several of the main links. Find the link entitled Branches of
Government and answer the following questions.
1. Prior to the creation of the US Constitution, what was the name of the first governing
document created by the colonists?
_____________________________________________________________
2. What was the main problem with this document?
_____________________________________________________________

3. Within the Constitution which article details and establishes the power of each branch
of the government?
+Article 1 - ______________________________
+Article 2 - ______________________________
+Article 3 - ______________________________
4. The drafters of the Constitution created a system of Separation of Powers wherein each
branch of the government could operate independently of one another. However, to
prevent an unfair concentration of power they implemented a system of Checks and
Balances.
Describe some of the features of the Checks and Balances system.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Take some time to explore through the links for each branch of the government and
write down one interesting fact that you learned from each respective section.
Executive Branch - ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Legislative Branch - ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Judicial Branch - __________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the
Governed -Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence.
What does this quote mean to you? ________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
The third site that we will explore will be: www.whitehouse.gov/our-government This site
houses a deep variety of information and offers an excellent resource for understanding this
unit and several others that we will be covering over this course.
Click on the tab Executive Branch, locate and list the fifteen positions within the Presidents
cabinet.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.
Next click on the Legislative Branch, tell me how each house of congress selects its members,
how many members are in each house, the length of their terms, and their main
responsibilities.
House of Representatives ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Senate - _______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Finally, click on the Judicial Branch and read over the information presented.
How are members of the Judicial Branch selected? ____________________________________
Which article of the Constitution establishes the Judicial Branch? _________________________
What does this article ensure for citizens?
______________________________________________________________________________
The fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments provide additional protection for those accused of a
crime. What do these rights include?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The Supreme Court is the highest court in America.
Can its decisions be appealed? YES

or

NO

What are the three main tasks of the court?

1.
2.
3.
Currently, how many Supreme Court Justices are there? _______________________________