Social Studies Chapter 7 Lesson 1 & 2

 Vocabulary: cooperate, law, consequence, mayor, elect, citizen, court, judge, rights, amendment, Bill of Rights, representative, majority rule, minority rights


Capitol building - where the Senate & House of Representatives meet (Legislative Branch)
- Senate: made up of Senators, elected every 6 years, 2 for every state
- House of Representatives: made up of representatives (congressman/congresswoman), elected every 2 years, # of representatives depends on the population of each state, head of the house is called the Speaker
Supreme Court - Judicial Branch made up of 9 justices, appointed by the President & approved by the Senate, they are appointed for life
President - Executive Branch - lives in the White House


Lesson 1: Rules & Laws
people need to cooperate to keep their community safe

cooperate: work together
laws: rules that a community makes
consequence: what happens because of what a person does
some consequences for breaking the law include fines/paying money, going to jail, community service hours, getting hurt

Community Government
the government members meet to talk about problems and decide how to solve them
mayor: a community leader
citizens: people who live in and belong to a community
elect: to choose a person to serve in a government position by voting
Court: a place where a judge makes decisions about a law
Judges: people from the community who are chosen to work as leaders in the court
they decide if someone breaks a law & they choose the consequences, judges must be fair & treat everyone the same way


Lesson 2: The United States Constitution

Why is the Constitution important?
1. It describes how our national government
works - in Washington D.C. - 3 branches
laws from Britain were unfair they fought the Revolutionary War, Constitution approved in 1789
2. The Bill of Rights describes rights and freedoms.
George Mason's idea
James Madison wrote them
10 original amendments, but more have been added since then

-all of the other laws in our country are based on the Constitution
- our government has 3 branches and no part of the government has all the power - we call that "checks and balances"
- citizens elect representatives who work for us to be our voice in the government
-majority rule: whatever gets the most votes wins
- minority rights: the smaller group (the thing that has less votes for it) still gets to keep its rights