What are the 3 branches of the U.S. government?

And what each can—and cannot—do

Written by

Tracy Grant

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Read them for yourself The framework for how the U.S. government works is laid out in less than 4,000 words in Articles I, II, and III of the U.S. Constitution. It would take you less than 15 minutes to read the document that, infused with the thinking of James Madison, was created over the course of less than four months in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. What the Founders wrote still governs a U.S....