Government Study Guide
Test on Thursday, February 25th
*The six purposes of government are: to keep people safe, to make and enforce laws, to help solve problems, to protect individual rights, to look out for the common good, and to provide services.
*Building and fixing roads is an example of providing services.
*The common good means people work together for the benefit of everyone.
*The state government keeps citizens safe by providing a state police force.
*People in a representative government elect leaders to make laws and decisions for them.
*The people hold the power in a republic.
*Our state representatives and senators represent the citizens of Michigan in our state government.
*Each local government makes its own laws for each county or city.
*If you want to build a fence in your own yard, your local government will tell you where/how to build it.
*The state government takes care of our state parks.
*Michigan’s three branches of government are: legislative, executive, and judicial
*The judicial branch interprets laws and decides if they have been broken.
*The leader of the state executive branch is the governor.
*The courts interpret the laws, which mean they decide what the laws mean.
*The state courts help to end conflicts between citizens by deciding when laws have been broken.
*One important job that ALL citizens have is to serve on a jury.
*The state of Michigan has a constitution to list rules for making state laws.
*Al list of rights for the people of Michigan can be found in Michigan’s constitution.
*Limited government means the government can only do what the people give it the power to do.