Legislative Branch

The legislative branch is also known as Congress.  It is a bicameral legislature.  This body of government has two parts, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.  These parts come from the Great Compromise where the large states wanted this part of government based solely on population and the smaller states wanted equality.  The Senate houses two members from each state providing the equality, whereas the House of Representatives receives members based on each state's population.  These two bodies work slowly when creating laws because when a law passes through one it then goes to the other and when it is passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate the President then decides whether he wants to make the bill a law or veto it.  When a bill is vetoed it returns to both the House of Representatives and the Senate where it needs a 2/3 vote in both bodies to override the veto.