Broadening Our Nation To ensure the separation of powers, the United States federal government is made up of three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, ensuring that no branch becomes too powerful or overwhelmed. To ensure that the government is effective and that citizens' rights are protected, each branch has its own powers and responsibilities. The legislative branch is covered in Article I of the Constitution. In the legislative branch, their main duties and responsibilities are supervision, operational activity and adoption of laws. The composition of the branch consists of a bicameral legislature, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 435 members of the House, based on population, where each state has at least one representative. Each of these representatives remains in office for two years and is directly elected by the people. In the Senate, however, each state has two regardless of size. They serve staggered six-year terms, with a third of senators up for re-election every two years. The 17th Amendment allowed for the election of the Senate by the people in 1915. Each of these representatives and senators are there to represent the political ideologies of their constituents, which is why different states have different laws. Another important member of the legislative branch is the Speaker of the House. In the House of Representatives, members choose a Speaker of the House. The President belongs to the majority party and can lead the action in the House. In the Senate, the Vice President serves as president. He votes only in the event of a tie and does not spend most of his time on the Senate floor. When the Vice President is not present, the Senate has selected... half of the document... section regarding senatorial courtesy. A president can leave a decades-long legacy in the form of judges he appointed during his term based on his political party. A Republican president is very likely to appoint conservative judges who he expects to make conservative decisions. On the other hand, Democratic presidents tend to appoint liberal judges who are expected to make liberal decisions. All of these decisions are extremely important, as many of the rights we rely on are based on those decisions. These rights were granted to us based on a decision made by 9 Supreme Court justices who were not elected for life. The well-being and order of our country are provided by these three branches of government. Each branch has its own purpose and each helps our nation and will continue to help our nation grow and succeed.