The+major+formal+and+informal+institutional+arrangements+of+power



=What are the institutions of power in the United States? =


 * Topics on this page **
 * Congress **
 * **Women in American Government**
 * **African Americans in American Government**
 * **Hispanic Americans in American Government**
 * The President **
 * Bureaucracy **
 * Federal Courts **
 * Vermont's Citizen Legislature **

 
 * **Go to Grade 7.38 for an expanded overview of the American system and its Roman origins **
 * **See American Government 3.6 for more on the functions of the Executive Branch **

Congress (The Legislative Branch)

 * Bi-cameral
 * Two bodies: the Senate and House of Representatives
 * Create laws
 * Declare war
 * Power to tax
 * Establish and control courts
 * Establish post offices
 * Regulate commerce
 * Create currency
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">For a full list of powers, click here.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">A profile of the Membership of the 113th Congress. Includes a breakdown of age, religion, gender and race, religion, and Congressional service. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A Day in the Life of US Congressman John Carney from Delaware on YouTube, February 12, 2012. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Click here for a video from PBS about The Congress of the United States of America.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">GovTrack.US lets citizens keep track of the activities of members of Congress online. **Women in the American Government** **African Americans in the American Government**
 * Article from The Nation pondering why the US still has so few women in government.
 * Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American woman in Congress, and this[| podcast from]//[|How Stuff Works]// provides a beautiful biography.
 * See also Shirley Chisholm Historical Biography Page

**Hispanic Americans in the American Government**
 * Article with slideshow from the Huffington post of the 2015 Congress: the most Hispanic Congress every.

[|Faith on the Hill: The Religious Composition of the 114th Congress] from Pew Research Center (January 5, 2015)
 * See also [|Map: What Religion Does Your Member of Congress Identify With?]

Is the legislative branch becoming corrupt? This [|article from The Hill]explores this question.

The Presidency (The Executive Branch)
Read here about Barack Obama, America's first black President. PDF of the past female candidates for President and Vice President.
 * Commander in Chief of the armed forces
 * Veto legislation
 * Grant pardons
 * Appoint people to cabinets and courts
 * Can issue "executive order"
 * Foreign policy
 * For a full list of powers, click here.

The Bureaucracy
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click here for a lesson plan on bureaucracy from the New York Times.
 * Ensures that policies and programs set by Congress are followed
 * Considered part of the Executive Branch
 * Execute laws
 * Government corporations
 * Post Office
 * Amtrak
 * Regulatory commissions and agencies
 * FDA[[image:resourcesforhistoryteachers/dept of labor.JPG width="408" height="182" align="right" caption="US Department of Labor"]]
 * Federal Trade Commission
 * Nuclear Regulatory Commission
 * Click here for more information.

The Federal Courts
Women in the Supreme Court The first black American judge on the Supreme Court was Thurgood Marshall. When he was a lawyer for the NAACP, he successfully argued and won Brown v. Board, the case when the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional. Sonia Sotomayor is the first Spanish Supreme Court judge. Read 8 things you may have not know about her from PBS here. See more about the Supreme Court here, USG 3.4.
 * Federal courts handle:
 * Constitutionality of laws
 * Laws and treaties
 * Ambassadors and public ministers
 * Disputes between states
 * Admiralty law [[image:Supreme_Court_DC.jpg width="274" height="280" align="right" caption="Supreme Court"]]
 * Bankruptcy
 * For more information on the federal courts, click here.
 * ** The Supreme Court is the judicial branch. **
 * Members of the Supreme Court since its beginning
 * After Marshall retired, his seat was filled by Clarence Thomas, the second black American Supreme Court judge.
 * For more about Thurgood Marshall, see USII 25.

This[| article from the Washington Post] takes an interesting look at Supreme Justice limits (it's the only branch without term limits).

[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Stack.png width="52" height="40"]]**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vermont's Citizen Legislature **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Full and Part Time Legislatures groups the 50 state legislative bodies into three major categories. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Debating the Pros and Cons of a Citizen Legislature, a podcast from Vermont Public Radio (February 6, 2012). Vermont does not have a full-time professional legislature.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For more, see Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont's Citizen Legislature: Program 10.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some Vermonters Can't Afford to Serve in the Citizen Legislature.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">State Legislature Session Length from the University of Vermont compares Vermont's citizen legislature to Maryland's professional one.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vermont's Legislative Process describes the working of the Vermont legislature.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sources: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. AP Gov Review