Branches of Government

There are three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. The branches of government operate in a system of checks and balances. "Checks" are the powers that one branch has to keep another branch from gaining too much power. Each branch has checks on each of the other branches of government. "Balances" means that each branch is equal in power to the other branches. 

This diagram illustrates some of the ways in which the three branches balance each other with checks on the others' power.

               Executive Branch                                 Judicial Branch                              Legislative Branch

Click on one of the seals above in order to learn more about that branch and the checks that it has on the other branches.