by

Legislative Branch

All About the United States Legislative Branch

The legislative branch of the United States government is delegated and established in Article I of the Constitution. Essentially, this branch was put in place in an effort by the founding fathers to represent the people of the country directly. In a time when the founding fathers were creating the framework for what would become the United States government, there was a fear of giving too much power to the president of the country. For this reason, the legislative branch was established to propose and pass laws in direct representation of the various states in the country.

There are two main parts of the legislative branch: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state in the union, regardless of its population or size, has two senators. Ever since the 17th Amendment of the United States Constitution was ratified in 1913, these senators have been chosen by popular vote of the people within these states. There are a total of 100 senators representing all 50 states in the country.The House of Representatives, on the other hand, includes a much larger number of employees. Unlike the number of Senators, the number of representatives from each state can vary greatly and is determined by the popular of said state. Therefore, more populous states have more representatives and thus more say in the legislative process of government. Smaller states, on the other hand, may have as little as one representative and do not have as much of a say in federal legislation. In total, there are 435 members of the House of Representatives, all of which are meant to represent the wants and needs of the citizens from their respective states. All of these positions are elected by a popular vote of the people of each state and elections are held every two years.

The main power of the legislative branch is to present laws to the executive branch and to pass laws presented to them. This is done by a vote; if two-thirds of the members vote for a bill, then it will be passed on to the president of the United States, who has the power to either sign it into law or veto it. If the president vetoes a bill, the legislative branch then has the power to override it and pass a bill into law anyway, though this must be done with a three-fourths majority. This system is in place to establish checks and balances between the various branches of government.

The two branches together–the Senate and the House–are known as the United States Congress. Congress is also responsible for confirming a president’s request to officially go to war with another country. As you can see, the legislative branch has a lot of power in the government; even though many people see the president as the most powerful figure in decision-making, the truth is that there is very little he or she can do without first having approval from Congress.

Overall, the legislative branch includes many members from every single one of America’s territories and states. Truly a entity by the people and for the people, the legislative branch is a powerful one indeed.