The U.S. Government

The U.S. was formed in 1776. The Constitution was written in 1787. It was ratified in 1788 and went into effect in 1789. 

The United States of America is a "federal republic" (also described as a "federal constitutional republic"). It is a union of 50 states. The U.S. has a federal district - Washington D.C. (the District of Columbia). 

Some people in the government are elected, some are chosen from within. Elected officials can appoint or nominate someone for a specific job. 

The U.S. government has 3 branches of government. 

1) Executive branch - executes or carries out the law. Consists of the President, the Vice President and the Cabinet. 

2) Legislative branch - makes and enacts laws and confirms the President's appointments. It's called the U.S. Congress. It consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

3) Judicial branch - interprets the laws. The highest court in the U.S. is the U.S. Supreme court. It's made up of 9 justices: 1 Chief Justice and 8 Associate Justices. The Judicial branch is made up of the Supreme court and all the other federal courts in the system.

Each branch is responsible for different things to avoid any conflict of power. This is called the separation of powers. 

The President of the United States (POTUS) is the Chief Executive and is given executive powers. He/she is also the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. President is elected by the people indirectly through representatives for a 4-year term and can only serve a maximum of two terms. The president must be at least 35 y.o.

Senators are elected officials. There are 2 Senators from each state - 100 Senators in total. They serve 6-year terms. The U.S. representatives serve 2-year terms.