Word Search

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  • Bill: The draft of proposed legislation presented to the legislative branch for consideration; once passed by one of the legislative bodies, a bill becomes an act; an act becomes law after approval by both legislative bodies and upon presidential approval.
  • Cabinet: A board consisting of the heads of department in the Executive Branch of the US government; the US Cabinet consists of the Vice President, the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the US Attorney General; some, but not all are in the line of presidential succession. Cabinet ranked officials, who are not heads of a department, include: the White House Chief of Staff, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Director of the Office of Management & Budget, United States Trade Representative (Ambassador), United States Mission to the United Nations (Ambassador), the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration. All cabinet members and cabinet-ranked officials, except for the Vice President and the Chief of Staff, each cabinet ranked position requires the approval of the US Senate.
  • Congress: The combined members of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate; the legislative branch of the US government; the body of government that makes US laws; the US legislature.
  • Constitution: The founding document forming the framework of the US government; the fundamental principles that govern; formal written policies and rules that limit the operation of government.
  • Democracy: A system of government where the will of the people determines the operation of government, usually through elected representatives; a type of government in which the people retain supreme control or sovereignty.
  • Election: A formal and organized process to choose by voting a person to serve in a political office.
  • Executive: Having the legal authority to put plans, actions, or laws into effect; one of the three co-equal branches of the US government with the President sitting at the head; the branch of the US government whose duty it is to execute, carry out, and enforce US laws.
  • Freedom: The ability to speak, think, act, or move about without interference or limitation from the government; liberty; the absence of oppression.
  • Immigration: The action of a citizen of one country going to establish permanent residency in another country. The US is a nation populated through immigration.
  • Independence: The state of being free or not dependent on another; freedom from being controlled by others; not subject to jurisdiction or authority of another.
  • Judicial: A system consisting of local, state, and federal courts that interpret the laws passed by the legislature and determines how to apply those laws in a given situation; that has to do with making judgments in the administration of justice within the systems of courts.
  • Jury: A group of people selected to hear the facts of a legal proceeding, and after presentation of the evidence, returns a verdict on the issues before them; a group of people chosen to determine if guilty or not guilty, or if a civil claim is proved based on the evidence presented after a judge explains the laws governing the charges or the civil claims.
  • Legislature: The combined members of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate; the legislative branch of the US government; the maker of US laws; Congress.
  • Liberty: Individual autonomy; freedom of the individual from oppressive government control; the right of thinking, expressing, thinking, doing, and being.
  • President: The elected head of the Executive Branch of the US government; the chief executive officer of the US government and the Commander-in-Chief of the US military; the duties include treaty negotiation, instituting policies, determining the foreign policy, writes and manages the federal budget, represents US interests and policies around the world, and appoints the heads of the departments within the Executive Branch of the US government.
  • Representative: A form of government where the people elect others to act on their behalf to the government; a Member of the US House of Representatives.
  • Republic: A country whose sovereigns are the people and not the government, where the people elect others to represent them, and the head of state (president) is elected.
  • Rights: The fundamental rules of what is allowed or owed to all people; not given by the government, rather something that all people have at birth and which is difficult for the government to take away from a person.
  • Senator: A person elected by the voters of a state, who occupies one of the two seats per state, and who represents the interests of the people of that state, to the US Senate.
  • Treaty: An agreement between sovereign countries that receives ratification (approval) by the governing body of the signatory countries; in the US government, the Senate ratifies treaties with the “advice and consent” of the US Senate.