The first definition is better as it defines the institution of government. The second is not so good because a government does more than make laws (the legislative role). It also has executive and judicial roles.
The best definition or, at least, the definition that better expresses what I understand what a government is, is the first option. It says that government is the institution created by a society to create and enforce public policies.
Explanation:
The Government is the main pillar of the State; the authority that directs, controls and administers its institutions, which consists in the general political conduction of the society and the exercise of the executive power of the State.
Economic distress and resentment of the treaty within Germany helped fuel the ultra-nationalist sentiment that led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, as well as the coming of a World War II just two decades later.
The powers of Congress are affected by all of these options except the "state constitutions", since the Constitution gives Congress final authority over the states in terms of legislation.
