Our federal government has three parts. They are the Executive, (President and about 5,000,000 workers) Legislative (Senate
and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts).
The President of the United States administers the Executive Branch of our government. He enforces the laws that the
Legislative Branch (Congress) makes. The President is elected by United States citizens, 18 years of age and older, who vote in
the presidential elections in their states. These votes are tallied by states and form the Electoral College system. States have
the number of electoral votes which equal the number of senators and representatives they have. It is possible to have the most
popular votes throughout the nation and NOT win the electoral vote of the Electoral College.
The Legislative part of our government is called Congress. Congress makes our laws. Congress is divided into 2 parts. One part
is called the Senate. There are 100 Senators2 from each of our states. Another part is called the House of Representatives.
Representatives meet together to discuss ideas and decide if these ideas (bills) should become laws. There are 435
Representatives. The number of representatives each state gets is determined by its population. Some states have just 2
representatives. Others have as many as 40. Both senators and representatives are elected by the eligible voters in their states.
The Judicial part of our federal government includes the Supreme Court and 9 Justices. They are special judges who interpret
laws according to the Constitution. These justices only hear cases that pertain to issues related to the Constitution. They are the
highest court in our country. The federal judicial system also has lower courts located in each state to hear cases involving
federal issues.
All three parts of our federal government have their main headquarters in the city of Washington D.C