Government

Government - Government is the name that we give to the people who run a community, state, or country.  The people of a community, state, or country come together and choose representatives.  A representative is a person who joins the government to represent people from an area.  Not everyone can participate in government because there are too many of us.  So, we choose a person to go in our place.  That is a representative.  The representative joins the government and makes decisions that he or she thinks will help us best.

Being a Good Citizen - As I said, not everyone can be a part of the government.  There are just too many people.  But, there are other ways you can participate.  These are called Civic Duties.  A civic duty is something that you must do in order to be a good citizen.  First, you must be civil.  Civil means that you show respect and kindness to other people.  You must also be responsible.  Responsible means that you follow the rules and laws and do your job as best you can.  Also, you can be a good citizen by volunteering.  When you volunteer, you help others without expecting to be paid or rewarded.  You do it because you know other people need help and you are able to help them.  It's the right thing to do!

Rules and Laws - Rules and laws are similar.  Rules are behaviors that you are required to follow in your classroom or your home.  Laws are the rules that everyone in a community, state, or country must follow.


Constitution - The Constitution is the most important document of the United States government.  The Constitution is a document that is the plan for our nation's government.  It contains the most important laws that everyone in the United States must follow.  It also explains how the United States government is organized.  There are 27 Amendments to the constitution.  Each amendment tells a specific law that all people in our country must follow.

Here is a picture of the Constitution:



The Constitution is the supreme law of the land.  That means that these are the most important laws, more important than any other laws.  Everyone must follow them, no matter what.

Branches of Government - There are 3 branches, or parts, of the United States government.  These three parts are Executive branch, Legislative Branch, and Judicial Branch.  The Executive Branch is made up of the President and Vice President, and the President's Cabinet.  The Cabinet is a group of people who are in charge of certain parts of the government.  They help the President make decisions.  They are in charge of executing the laws.  That means they are in charge of making sure people do what the laws say.  The Legislative Branch is made up of Congress.  The Legislative Branch is in charge of legislating, or writing laws.  They write the laws that we all have to follow.  Congress has 2 parts:  The House of Representatives and the Senate.  Each part works together to write the laws.  The Judicial Branch is in charge of making decisions about the laws.  It is made of the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court is made up of 9 judges who make decisions about the laws.  They decide if a law fits with the Constitution, or if people are following the law correctly.

Purposes of Government - Governments have different purposes, or reasons for existing.  The government can be broken into 3 levels:  National, State, and Local.  The National government has several purposes:  to make laws for the whole nation, to make sure people in the whole nation follow national laws, to settle problems between the states, and to protect the people of the whole nation from outsiders.  The State and Local governments have the same basic purposes, but they only deal with people in the state or local community.

Limits on Government - There are limits on government also.  This means that government is not completely free to do whatever it wants.  The three branches of government work together to make sure no one is too powerful and does anything to harm citizens.  For example, if the legislative branch passes a law, and the President does not think it will help the citizens, he can say no to the law.  If the legislative and executive branches pass a law, the judicial branch can erase that law by declaring it Unconstitutional.  That means it goes against the Constitution.  The three branches work together like this to make sure that their actions are helpful to the people.

Symbols of Your Country - Countries sometimes take symbols to represent them.  A symbol is a picture or object that stands for something else.  A flag is a common symbol for a country.  Here is a picture of the United States flag:

Here are some other common symbols of the United States: