The U.S. Government Explained for English Language Learners - By JenniferESL
Transcript
00:00 | Hi everyone . I'm jennifer from english with jennifer . | |
00:04 | You may not love politics but it's important to have | |
00:07 | a basic understanding of how your government works . Can | |
00:12 | you explain what kind of government you have in your | |
00:14 | country in this video ? I'll give you an overview | |
00:18 | of the U . S . Government and some key | |
00:21 | vocabulary . Mhm . Yeah . Quick quiz . How | |
00:31 | many U . S . States are there through ? | |
00:35 | What process do people become part of the government ? | |
00:41 | Let me tell you the answers . The United States | |
00:45 | of America is a federal republic . That's the name | |
00:49 | of the system we have where a union of 50 | |
00:52 | states . We also have a federal district Washington D | |
00:57 | . C . The district of Columbia which is our | |
01:00 | capital . In addition to all that , we have | |
01:03 | several territories like Guam and Puerto rico . We have | |
01:08 | elected officials who represent us in the government so that | |
01:12 | indirectly we have a voice . Not everyone in our | |
01:18 | government is elected . Some people are chosen from within | |
01:22 | our elected officials can appoint or nominate someone for a | |
01:27 | specific job . A point means officially named . Someone | |
01:34 | nominate means propose or suggest . Someone . If you | |
01:42 | are appointed by someone there's likely another person who has | |
01:45 | to confirm that appointment . If you're nominated , there | |
01:50 | are others who have to vote to make it official | |
01:56 | . Another quick quiz in the U . S . | |
01:59 | How many branches of government are there ? Does the | |
02:04 | U . S . President hold the most power ? | |
02:08 | How do we know what each branch is responsible for | |
02:13 | ? Mm The procedures for elections and appointments can be | |
02:19 | confusing but the basic structure of our government is simple | |
02:23 | and clear . We have three branches of government . | |
02:27 | Each branch is responsible for different things to avoid any | |
02:31 | conflict of power . This is called the separation of | |
02:35 | powers . No branch can be all powerful because we | |
02:39 | have a system of checks and balances . This means | |
02:43 | that two branches can limit the power of one . | |
02:50 | The separation of powers and all the checks and balances | |
02:53 | are outlined in the U . S . Constitution . | |
02:56 | The constitution provides the framework for our government . It's | |
03:01 | the supreme law of the land , meaning the highest | |
03:04 | law in our country . The United States was formed | |
03:10 | in 1776 . The constitution was written in 1787 . | |
03:16 | It was ratified or approved in 1788 . It went | |
03:22 | into effect in 1789 . So what are the three | |
03:29 | branches maybe you know them ? Let's see what branch | |
03:34 | does the president belong to ? The executive branch . | |
03:41 | This is the branch that executes or carries out the | |
03:44 | law . The president has a cabinet . This is | |
03:50 | a group of advisers . The President appoints members of | |
03:55 | the cabinet but they have to be confirmed by another | |
03:58 | branch . What's the branch that makes laws ? The | |
04:06 | legislative branch ? This is the branch that confirms the | |
04:10 | president's appointments . Our legislative branch is called the U | |
04:16 | . S . Congress . It's made up of the | |
04:19 | Senate and the House of Representatives . Their main job | |
04:23 | is to legislate which means to make or enact laws | |
04:30 | . What's the branch that interprets the laws ? The | |
04:34 | judicial branch ? Judicial is related to judge where our | |
04:39 | judgments made in court . The highest court is the | |
04:45 | U . S . Supreme Court . It's made up | |
04:47 | of nine justices , 1 chief justice and eight associate | |
04:52 | justices . The judicial branch is made up of the | |
04:56 | U . S . Supreme Court and all the other | |
04:59 | federal courts in the system . Quick quiz . What | |
05:06 | other titles does the U . S . President have | |
05:13 | ? Which members of Congress serve two year terms . | |
05:20 | The President of the United States is our chief executive | |
05:24 | . He or she is vested were given executive powers | |
05:30 | . Our President is also the commander in chief of | |
05:33 | the armed forces . Our president is elected by the | |
05:37 | people indirectly through our representatives for a four year term | |
05:43 | . The president can serve a maximum of two terms | |
05:49 | . The president maybe our commander in chief but only | |
05:52 | Congress can declare war . Remember our system of checks | |
05:56 | and balances . All members of Congress , our elected | |
06:00 | officials . We have two senators from each state for | |
06:05 | a total of 100 senators . They serve six year | |
06:09 | terms . They can run for reelection . U . | |
06:13 | S . Representatives serve two year terms so they're up | |
06:17 | for reelection . More often , they can also join | |
06:20 | the House of Representatives at a younger age Here , | |
06:24 | try a quick matching quiz mm . The US president | |
06:29 | must be at least mhm . 35 years old . | |
06:34 | A U . S . senator must be at least | |
06:38 | 30 years old and a U . S . Representative | |
06:42 | must be at least 25 years old . There are | |
06:51 | more U . S . Representatives than senators because the | |
06:54 | number of representatives depends on the population of a state | |
06:58 | . A state with a large population has more congressional | |
07:02 | districts and all the districts have their representatives . Another | |
07:10 | quick quiz . How long can someone serve on the | |
07:13 | Supreme Court ? Mm Is a Supreme Court justice appointed | |
07:19 | or elected . The Supreme Court of the United States | |
07:26 | has nine justices . I believe the number has been | |
07:30 | the same since 1869 . Sometimes there's talk about packing | |
07:35 | the court which means adding more justices so that the | |
07:39 | political party in power can appoint people who will interpret | |
07:44 | laws either more conservatively or more liberally . Recently , | |
07:50 | we lost a member of the Supreme Court Justice Ruth | |
07:53 | Bader Ginsburg . Her passing left a vacancy . This | |
07:58 | means that at some point the president and Congress must | |
08:01 | work together to fill the seat . The president can | |
08:05 | nominate someone but the nominee must be confirmed by Congress | |
08:10 | . Remember that system of checks and balances a committee | |
08:15 | has the chance to review the nominee's qualifications . It's | |
08:19 | a long process . The Senate Judiciary Committee can then | |
08:23 | send the nomination to Senate for a vote . If | |
08:27 | the Senate confirms the nomination , then the president can | |
08:31 | officially appoint this person as the next Supreme Court justice | |
08:35 | . This is a lifetime appointment . So it's a | |
08:38 | pretty big deal to serve on the Supreme Court . | |
08:44 | One final question Has the U . S . Constitution | |
08:48 | changed at all over the years ? The answer is | |
08:54 | yes and no . I said that the Constitution outlines | |
08:58 | the separation of powers , but a lot of the | |
09:01 | details weren't written right away . The constitution has basically | |
09:06 | remained the same . But over the years we've added | |
09:09 | 27 amendments to amend something means to make a change | |
09:16 | Very soon after the constitution went into effect , our | |
09:20 | founders wrote the bill of rights . That's what we | |
09:23 | call the 1st 10 amendments . There was concern from | |
09:29 | the very beginning about the federal government holding too much | |
09:33 | power to avoid an all powerful central government . The | |
09:37 | Bill of Rights was written . It was written to | |
09:40 | make sure that the rights of individuals and the rights | |
09:43 | of the states were protected . Can you name any | |
09:49 | of the 1st 10 amendments ? I talked about one | |
09:52 | of them in my video on gun control . There's | |
09:55 | a lot of talk about Second Amendment rights . That's | |
09:59 | the right to bear arms , the right to own | |
10:02 | a gun . Perhaps we can go over the bill | |
10:05 | of Rights and talk about individual freedoms in another lesson | |
10:11 | , we'll end here , please like the video if | |
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10:24 | always , thanks for watching and Happy Studies . Thank | |
10:29 | you to all the members of my channel and use | |
10:32 | super in truly marvelous Members . Look out for the | |
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10:51 | time . Mm . |
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