A democracy is a government with mostly elected officials. In this lesson you will learn who these elected people are, and how they are elected. You will also learn about those government leaders who are appointed by the elected leader.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH:

Remember, the legislative part of the United States (Federal) government is made up of two parts or Houses:   the Senate and the House of Representatives.  

• New York State sends two Senators to the Senate in Washington, D.C.  In fact, every state sends just two Senators, no matter how many people live in the state.  Presently, our two Senators are Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton.  There is no limit to the number of terms he/she can serve.

• Each Senator serves a six year term, then he or she must run again for the office.  There is no limit as to how many terms they can serve.

• New York sends 31 Representatives to the House of Representatives.  Our state is divided into 31 Congressional Districts, and each district elects one representative. 

• The number of Representatives depends upon the population of the state.  The term is two years for each  Representative.

JUDICIAL BRANCH:

EXECUTIVE BRANCH:

Our current President is not from New York State, but we have had several past Presidents who were born here.

As taught in a previous lesson, our state government is also made up of three branches:  Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH AT THE STATE LEVEL:

As in the Federal Government, the executive branch carries out the laws.  In this case, it carries out New York's laws.  Our executive branch is headed by a governor.  There is an election every four years in November in which the voters get to vote for the state governor.  The present governor, Republican George Pataki, was voted in by New Yorkers in 1994 and was re-elected in 1998 and 2002.

The Governor and his family live in the Governor's Mansion in the state capital, Albany.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH AT THE STATE LEVEL:

As in the federal government, the job of the state legislature is to make laws beneficial to the people.  At the state level, it again has two branches: the State Assembly and the State Senate.   The Senate has 61 members, and the Assembly has 150.  They are all elected by the voters and serve for two years.

JUDICIAL BRANCH AT THE STATE LEVEL:

As in the federal government the state judicial branch is there to decide if someone has broken the law.  All of the courts in our state are part of the judicial branch, but the highest court is the New York  Court of Appeals.  This court hears cases from lower courts and makes decisions about the laws themselves.  There are seven judges on this court, and they serve for 14 years.  The judges are not elected, but rather are appointed by the governor.  However, the Senate must approve of the choice.  If it does not approve, the governor must choose again.

As in an earlier lesson, it was explained that the local government also has three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.  In many cities, the head of the local executive branch is elected and called the mayor, the legislative branch is also elected and can be called aldermen or councilors, and the judicial branch is usually appointed and are called judges.   These names would differ according to the city, of course!

In summary, New York, like every state,  has many politicians.  Most are elected and can serve for a different number of years, but all fit in one of three categories: legislators, executive leaders, or judges.  They just serve in different places: locally,  in Albany (state government leaders), or in Washington, D.C. (federal government leaders).