Constitution Project - Lexi-Olive Lambert & Nick Zelner

Declaration of Independence

● Guarantees the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
● Purpose: Explain to foreign nations why the colonies had chosen to separate themselves from Great Britain

& to officially declare independence from The King.
● Written by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Ben Franklin.
● Edited 86 times by the Continental Congress
● Created between June and July, 1776
● Independence was officially declared on on July 2nd, 1776, the final text of the Declaration was approved

July 4th, 1776, and it was signed on August 2nd, 1776.
● America had already been at war with Great Britain for a year before the Declaration was signed.
● The Declaration of Independence was Congress’s response to Britain’s King calling them “traitors”.

Legislative Branch

● Definition: The part of the government that makes laws for the nation.
● Congress (2 parts) - House of Representatives & Senate
● Members voted into office
● House of Representatives has members based on state population (435 max people)
● Senate has same number of members for every state. (2 per state/100 people altogether)
● Founded March 4th, 1789
● Can declare war, confirm or reject Presidential appointments, pass laws, impeach officials, and has

investigative powers.

Executive Branch

● Definition: The part of the government that enforces the laws passed by Congress
● Power in the President (Commander in Chief)
● Appoints the heads of federal agencies/judges, reject law proposals, negotiate foreign treaties, and grant

pardons for a crime.
● Executive Branch includes President, Vice President, The Cabinet, Department of Agriculture, Department

of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of
Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of State,
Department of Transportation, Department of Treasury, and Department of Veteran’s Affairs.
● Executive Branch employs 4 million people. (Including armed forces)

Judicial Branch

● Definition: The part of the government that interprets the laws and compares them to the Constitution to
make sure they are valid.

● Analogy: The Government is like a basketball game, the Legislative and Executive Branch are opposing
teams trying to score points against each other and the Judicial Branch is the referee making sure everyone
is playing by the rules.

● Members appointed by President and confirmed by Senate.
● Currently 9 members including one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices.
● There is no fixed term for them to serve. They go until death, retirement, or impeachment.
● Includes federal courts and organizations that support them. (13 total) This includes the Administrative

Office of the U.S. Courts, Bankruptcy Courts, Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit, Court of Federal Claims, Court of International Trade, Federal Judicial Center, Judicial
Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, Supreme Court of the United States, Tax Court, U.S. Court of Appeal for
Veterans Claims, U.S. Courts of Appeal, and U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Amendments/Bill of Rights

● A big influence was the English Bill of Rights
● Thomas Jefferson & John Adams were huge proponents
● At first James Madison thought that it would be useless
● Purpose: To limit government powers and show people what rights they were entitled to.
● Amendments can be added and/or rejected
● 33 Amendments have been proposed and 27 were added since the creation of the Bill of Rights in 1789
● Some famous Amendments are Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Right to Bear Arms, and

Freedom of The Press.