The roles of the three branches
Team A
His301
3/11/13 Janice Harder

The Constitution of the United States is the permanent document upon which this nation’s government was formed and continues to rely upon in order to maintain the democratic republic. In its conception and many evolutions throughout the past 237 years, the rights of the country’s citizens and the roles that all federal and state governmental bodies play were established. Articles I, II and III contain the multifaceted powers as well as the checks and balances for and between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. This paper examines the reasons and benefits of the three divisions in the government, the obstacles to creating legislation due to the division of power among the branches, and the conflict and issues between supporters of federal versus states rights were characterized at the nation’s birth and at present.
When the American forefather divided the government they did it with our futures in mind, a government for the people. In order to make sure things are done correctly and fairly they decided to make three branches, the legislative branch is the House of Representatives which is the congress and also includes the senate which is used for law making decisions. Our forefathers made it this way so that each state had proper representation. The legislative branch receives thousands of bills ever two years and it is the legislative branches duties to make sure only necessary bills are entered into the house.
The judicial branch is the Supreme Court and the only court established by the constitution to make sure our constitution is upheld to the highest standards. The Supreme Court is the only court that can make decision of national importance to our country. Our forefathers knew that without some court system to uphold the constitution that people would try to read between the lines.
The executive branch is our president and when the forefathers made this branch they knew our country would need a leader and our leader would need people behind him helping us run our great nation. The executive branch includes the president’s cabinet which helps to make sure that our president runs our government smoothly and follows the law of the land.
Each one of these branches needs the other branch in order to make sure we the people remain safe and follow the constitution as best as possible. I believe our forefathers knew that in order to be successful that these three branches would need each other to guide our nation as best as possible.
As stated in Article 1, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…” Article 2, Section 1 states that the “executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States.” Then states in Article 3, Section 1 the “judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme court…” Each of these powers represents the makeup of our governmental branches.
The only power that can create any legislation is the Congress. No laws, bills, policies, etc. can be created by any other governing branch of the Federal government. This means the president cannot bring a bill to the passed in Congress; a member of Congress must present it. Same is true for judges in the Supreme Court; they do not have the authority to bring any legislation to be passed.
The division of power can hold up important legislation because the US Constitution gives the president the option to sign legislation into law or return it to Congress with his (or her) objections. As stated in Article 1, Section 7 “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections, to that House in which it has originated from, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it.” Once back in the hands of Congress the bill can still become law if two third of the House and two thirds of the Senate vote in favor of passing the law. This means that if the members of the Senate truly believe that a particular law must be passes, it can be passed without the president, but it takes a very long time to get that done. Then, once the law is passed…if there are persons that feel the law is in conflict with the Constitution, it can be brought to the Supreme Court. For Article 3, section 2 states the “judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States…”
While the division of power prevents any one branch of government having too much power, it can also hold back the need to create and enact laws in a timely manner because of the checks and balances put into place by our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution.
States rights only apply to individual state can do. Federal rights only apply within the federal government while regulating interstate commerce and relations and international policies. Federal rights apply to the entire country while state rights are within state only. Federal laws overrule state's right. According to the Tenth Amendment which is intended to confirm the understanding of the people at the time the constitution was adopted, that powers not granted to the US were reserved to the States or to the people. According to the case United States v. Sprague, 282 U.S. 716 733(1931) the founding power added potential for the struggle over power within the federal government and the state governments, this became a concern to the American founders. The concern came because of the trust with government power; the mission was to stop the growth of the type of government that the British has exercised over the colonies. The Tenth Amendments was added to the Constitution of 1787 due to the intellectual influence and personal persistence of the Anti- Federalist and their allies.
In conclusion the three branches all have different responsibilities under the constitution. The judicial branch deals with the Supreme Court to sure our constitution is upheld to the highest standards. The executive branch includes the president’s cabinet which helps our president runs our government smoothly. The legislative branch includes the House of Representatives and the senate’s and also is used for law making decisions. The three branches were established to help thing run smoother and to keep everything in check and balance. The three branches also keep one person or branch from having too much power.