This is a free textbook written for introductory undergraduate courses in American politics and government, covering the creation and principles of the Constitution, the fundamentals of American public opinion and political behavior, and the basic functions of the three branches of government.

Introductory course on American Government, designed also to prepare for the College Board's CLEP subject matter exam.

Government can be defined as the institutions and processes that make and implement a society’s legally authoritative decisions. The government unit can be a city, a school board, a county, a state, a multi-state regional compact, a national government, or even an international body. In the U.S., government includes the national government institutions—Congress, the presidency, the federal courts, and the federal bureaucracies; the 50 state governments—state legislatures, governors, courts, and bureaucracies; and the thousands of local governments—cities, counties, and other special government districts such as school boards and the transportation authorities that govern airports, seaports, and mass transit. These governments make legally authoritative decisions that include legislation, administrative regulations, executive orders, case law rulings, and other public policy actions that are authoritative because individuals and organizations are obligated to obey them or face some kind of legal sanction.

This course covers American Government: the Constitution, the branches of government (Presidency, Congress, Judiciary) and how politics works: elections, voting, parties, campaigning, policy making. In addition weęll look at how the media, interest groups, public opinion polls and political self-identification (are you liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican or something else?) impact politics and political choices. Weęll also cover the basics in economic, social and foreign policy and bring in current issues and show how they illustrate the process.

Originally published as American Government and Politics in the Information Age in 2011 as CC BY-NC-SA.
Updated by James J. Tuite in 2020. This is a textbook for the first part of an introductory course on the American political process. Teaches the structure, operation, and process of national, state, and local governments.

Video lectures are available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCInj8bmD5BUa9UnNrtAblznm6skFNZJh

American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.

This is a full lesson plan that includes instructor script, PowerPoint slides, and student activities about the Articles of Confederation and the Continental Congress.

The artist predicts a decisive Whig victory in the presidential election of 1848, with Whig candidate Zachary Taylor "bagging" all of the states in an electoral sweep. (Taylor actually carried only fifteen of the thirty states.) A kneeling Taylor (left) gathers fallen pigeons, each bearing a state's name, into a bag. Holding up the New York bird he muses, "My purpose would be suited without this fellow, however I'll take him: the more the merrier for the 4th of March next." Taylor's strength in New York was considered questionable before the election. Standing to the right is Lewis Cass with a musket at his side. Looking over at Taylor, he marvels, "What an all devouring appetite the fellow has: I expect he'll bag me in the bargain!" In the background Martin Van Buren is caught by the seat of his trousers on the nails of a fence. Holding a rooster labeled "Proviso" he cries, "Cass, come and help an old crony won't you!" Peering over from behind the fence is Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot, author of the Wilmot Proviso, who threatens Van Buren with a switch, "I'll teach you to come ta robbing my barn!" Van Buren and the Barnburner Democrats adopted the proviso, which barred slavery in American territory gained in the Mexican War, as the main plank in their 1848 campaign platform.|Probably drawn by E.F. Durang.|Pubd. by Able [i.e., Peter E. Abel] & Durang. Philada.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 97.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1848-46.

A caricature of President Martin Van Buren issued during the Panic of 1837, strongly critical of his continuation of predecessor Andrew Jackson's hard-money policies. Particular reference is made to the Specie Circular, a highly unpopular order issued by the Jackson administration in December 1836, directing collectors of public revenues to accept only gold or silver (i.e., "specie") in payment for public lands. Designed to curb speculation, the measure was blamed by administration critics for draining the economy of hard money and precipitating the 1837 crisis. Hearkening back to the anti-Jackson "King Andrew the First" (no. 1833-4), the artist portrays Van Buren as a monarch in a princely cloak, treading on the Constitution. He is crowned "in the name of Belzebub . . . Ragamuffin king" by a demon. Van Buren's cloak is trimmed with "shinplasters," the colloquial term for the often worthless small-denomination bank notes which proliferated during the panic. Van Buren says, "I like this cloak amazingly, for now I shall be able to put into execution my Designs without being observed by every quizing, prying Whig. I'm obliged to keep close since my Safety Fund is blown . . ." Under the Safety Fund law, passed during Van Buren's term as governor of New York, banks were required to contribute to a fund used to liquidate the obligations of banks that failed. The fund was quickly exhausted during the panic. On the walls are pictures of "Bequests of the Late Incumbent" (Andrew Jackson), including "The Hickory Stick," worshipped by the masses like the brazen serpent in the Old Testament, Jackson's spectacles and clay pipe, his hat, the Safety Fund balloon in flames, and "the Last Gold Coin," minted in 1829 (the year Jackson first took office). On the wall at right is a headless statue of Jackson holding a "veto" in his right hand (an allusion to Jackson's 1832 veto of a bill to recharter the Bank of the United States). Visible through a window is a street scene where a crowd mobs a theater exhibiting "a Real Gold Coin." Beneath Van Buren's feet are several documents, including the Specie Circular and "petitions," the missives from New York bankers and merchants which deluged the White House calling for repeal of the Circular. A document labeled "Indian claims" refers to another unpopular Jackson legacy: the numerous grievances by tribes like the Cherokees and Seminoles regarding unfair and inhumane government treaties by which they were being displaced and deprived of their lands.|Copyright secured according to law by F.J. Winston.|Published at 89 Nassau St. NY.|Signed: Forbes Delt.|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on August 29, 1837, and published at the same address as Anthony Fleetwood's "6 Cents. Humbug Glory Bank" (no. 1837-10).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 49.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1837-1.

A satire condemning the duplicity and conspiracy of the "Bucktail" faction of New York Democrats in their April 1824 ouster of New York's ex-governor DeWitt Clinton from his post as canal commissioner. The Library's impression of the print has the missing letters in the names of the figures filled in by hand. Twelve men stand in a room, with a platform, table, and lamp on the right. On the left G[ardiner] is about to exit saying, "I will run home and ask the people how they will like it before I give my vote." To the left of the platform P[ierson] says to B[ourne], "I hope we shall give you a united vote for the removal of Mr. Clinton I have long wished an opportunity to have revenge on him for blowing up the old Burr Conspiracy." B[ourne]: "I am delighted with the prospect! Clinton has always been my devil--it will be impossible to pull him down to our level if we do not dishonor him. I recommend secrecy as success depends upon our taking the members by surprise at the moment of adjournment." Others in the room speak (counterclockwise, from the far left): S[eama]n: "I beg of you to pause ere you adopt any more lobby measures--we were sent here for public good--yet all our measures have for their object individual benefit. This base deed will produce a reaction and may make him Governor. The republican party so justly famed for justice and liberality will in their haste to free themselves from this odium forget and forgive everything." M[ors]e: "The North river squad think the Canal a benefit to ourside [sic] of the City and they will therefore disapprove our dishonoring its founder." D[rake]: "I wish I could be excused from voting, my conscience tells me it is wrong my judgment tells me it will dishonor the State--but the lobby requires it and it must be done." H[yatt]: "I vote here against the measure but if a majority of this meeting decide in its favor I will vote for it in the house tomorrow as my creed is the majority must rule." B[enedict]: "It is inconsistant with a Soldiers honor to build up or pull down any man to gratify angry or sordid passions --besides this lobby influence must be check'd or it will ruin the State." [Henry] W[heaton]: "I will support the measure to punish him for the injury he did our profession by recommending the fee bill and extending the jurisdiction of the judges." [Clarkson] C[rolius]: "I will support the measure in hopes of appeasing the wrath of the Bucktails altho' I fear they are too hard baked to be gull'd in this way. Besides My Insurance Co. & the lobby." W[ar]d: "My vote shall be given for this removal because he is the author of all our troubles about the electoral law. When Govr. he recommended to the Legislature the restoration of the peoples rights." T[own]: "It is true he has been my Benefactor and I ought to shudder at the deed but three months tuition in the hands of the lobby does away these squeamish feelings." Above, in a cloud, is Columbia with an American flag and an eagle, saying, "I renounce them and their ways."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Murrell, p. 98.|Weitenkampf, p. 21.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1824-1.

One of a number of highly racist posters issued as part of a smear campaign against Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee John White Geary by supporters of Democratic candidate Hiester Clymer. (See also nos. 1866-6, 1866-7, and 1866-8.) Indicative of Clymer's white-supremacy platform, the posters attack postwar Republican efforts to pass a constitutional amendment enfranchising blacks. In "The Constitutional Amendment" a group of black men are shown crowding ahead of two white veterans and other whites toward a door marked "Polls." One veterans complains, "Surely, we did not fight for this." Another remarks, "I thought we fought for the Union." A straggly bearded man encourages the blacks, "Come on, my brave boys, you saved the Nation." The black response is, "Dat's so Brudder Yank, and you need our votes now. De poor White Trash must stand back." At right two more white men complain, "Negroes rule us now," and "We have no chance here." On the left is a column of text: "Geary Is for Negro Suffrage. Stevens [Pennsylvania representative Thaddeus Stevens] Advocates it. Forney [Pennsylvania senator John W. Forney] Howls for it, McClure [Alexander K. McClure, Pennsylvania Republican chairman] Speaks for it. Cameron [Pennsylvania Republican boss Simon Cameron] Wants it. The League Sustains it. They are rich, and want to make The Negro the Equal of the Poor White Man, and then rule them both." At right are the names of candidates for Congress that supported black voting rights. Below is the commentary: "The Radical Platform--ˆ_ăˆ_Óegro Suffrage the only Issue!' Every man who votes for Geary or for a Radical Candidate for Congress, votes as surely for Negro Suffrage and Negro Equality, as if they were printed on his ballot."|Block signed: Reynolds N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1866-5.

A cartoon on the defeat of Whig Henry Clay in the 1844 presidential election, ascribing his loss of the state of New York to his cousin Cassius M. Clay's campaign tour on his behalf. Oddly, though given prominence in the title, Cassius M. Clay does not appear in the picture itself. As Clay and his running mate Theodore Frelinghuysen--each having raccoon bodies--cross a bridge, it collapses in pieces, spilling Clay and his entourage of raccoons and starving dogs into the river. Clay grasps Frelinghuysen's tail and says, "Hold on Vice Frelinghuysen I have not only lost my election, I fear my principles are leaking out and will be exposed to the gaze of the Common people." From his open abdomen fall pistols, playing cards, and dice, evidence of his penchant for dueling and gambling. Freylinghusen responds: "Oh! Great Henry this is the effect of keeping bad Company. I think YOU are about the right material for a Vice President. I advise you to study Divinity it is your only hope left." (Frelinghuysen was a prominent churchman.) Assorted exclamations come from the hapless animals, one of whom cries, "help me Casius or I sink." On the section of the bridge at right several roosters holding brooms (symbolizing reform) jeer at the two candidates, the largest one saying, "Humbug has had its days." Below the roosters, in the distance, a crowd dances around a flagpole with a banner inscribed "Oregon" and "Texas." Further on, a fortress with a flag "Our Thunder" fires one of its guns. Standing on the left side of the bridge are two Pennsylvanians. One says, "Did you hear the news from New York-York York all honest & true" and the other, "Oh! give us Polk & Dallas how happy we will be . . . ." In the water below, a boat marked "Make way for Gov. Shunk" rows by with three men aboard. One man in the boat, possibly newly elected Democratic governor of Pennsylvania Francis R. Shunk, observes of Clay, "that large Coon has very black Legs I reckon." "Blackleg" was common slang for scoundrel. |Entered . . . 1845 by Wm. Dohnert . . . E. District of Penn.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 85.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1845-1.

President Obama's recent proposal to cut Social Security's cost-of-living increases is part of a major national debate, but one that many students know little about. In this activity, students find out about Social Security by interviewing a senior family member or friend about it, and through reading and small and large-group discussion.

The home of the U.S. Government’s open data. Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more. Topics include Agriculture, Business, Climate, Education, Energy, Ecosystems, Manufacturing and more.

The satire apparently perceives President Polk's reinstatement of Winfield Scott over Zachary Taylor as commander of U.S. forces in the Mexican War in November 1846 as an attempt to squelch the extreme personal popularity won by Taylor through dazzling early victories at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey. Scott (center) is shown emptying a large tureen of soup onto Taylor, saying "Take that! you're my subordinate!" The "hasty bowl of soup" was a recurring jibe which haunted Scott throughout the rest of his public career. (See also "Battle of Cerro Gordo" and "Battle of Churubusco," nos. 1847-2 and 1847-3.) It originated in Scott's opening comment in a May 25, 1846, letter to Secretary of War William L. Marcy protesting his removal as commander, "Your letter of this date, received at about 6 p.m., as I sat down to take a hasty plate of soup . . ." Here Scott is urged on by Polk (right), who says, "That's right Scott, we must Smother him [i.e., Taylor]!" Scott asks Taylor, "Where were you when I was ordering my hasty plate of Soup?" Taylor, in his customary wide-brimmed hat and simple civilian coat, is in marked contrast to the elegantly uniformed Scott. As a troop of soldiers at attention looks on, Taylor bears the indignity, responding, "Please your Excellency and Commander in Chief I was at the Pallo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, & Monterey." One of the soldiers adds, punning on Taylor'a name, "Aye Aye, the People will put him right, although he's a Taylor he "leads" to danger and dont "follow" suit." Although unsigned the print is quite close in drawing, if not in political bias, to Edward Williams Clay's pro-Scott "Santa Anna Declining a Hasty Plate of Soup at Cerro Gordo" (no. 1847-4). The similarity between the portraits of Scott in the two prints is especially convincing evidence of Clay's authorship.|Drawn by Edward Williams Clay, 1846 or early 1847.|H.R. Robinson's Lith. 142 Nassau St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 94.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1846-15.

A satire on the Van Buren administration's involvement in New York State politics. Although the precise context of the cartoon is unclear, specific reference is made to Van Buren's alliance with postmaster general and political strategist Amos Kendall against Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, leader of the conservative faction of New York Democrats. In an interior, Kendall (left) and Van Buren are at a table strewn with "discharge" papers. Kendall, seated below a painting of Andrew Jackson titled "Glory," reads the "Globe" newspaper. Van Buren sits below a portrait of "Globe" editor and administration apologist Francis Preston Blair. Van Buren: "So they've nailed that infernal Tallmadge to the counter-Whole hog fellows these eighteen-we must show our gratitude-any room in your concern Amos?" Kendall: "You're right sir we must back up the Albany Boys. Ill send every d--md whig in my department to "Jones" locker. Theres that old superanuated hero Van Ranselaer [i.e., probably, Canal Commissioner Stephen Van Rensselaer] we'll bury him decently and put a "Flagg" [State Comptroller Azariah C. Flagg] over him." Tallmadge watches from behind a curtain, saying "Those fellows can only conceive of mens souls as marketable commodities." Weitenkampf dates the print tentatively 1836, but the artist's rendering of Kendall is clearly based on Charles Fenderich's life portrait, etched by William W. Bannerman and published in the "United States Magazine and Democratic Review" in March 1838. The likeness of Tallmadge also appears to be from a Fenderich portrait copyrighted in 1839.|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt Street New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Charles Fenderich, no. 2E7 and B2.|Weitenkampf, p. 43-44.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1838-2.

This lesson is designed to get students to think critically about hot-button issues such as the "fiscal cliff," "sequestration," and the ongoing debate about the US budget. Two student readings examine the general debate about the budget and the human impact of budget cuts and sequestration. Questions for discussion follow each reading.

Another in the series of "Spoodlyks's" satires on the Glentworth affair. (See also nos. 1840-60, -61, and -63). Here the artist portrays Glentworth's attempt to remove evidence in the vote fraud inquiry from the recorder's office, and the ensuing scuffle involving the sheriff, the mayor, and the recorder. In the cartoon the recorder's office has erupted in a brawl. Glentworth (center) stands clutching the package of evidence to his chest. City recorder Robert H. Morris (left) and sheriff Jacob Acker, with a writ of replevin in his pocket, try to wrest the package from Glentworth. Sheriff: "By virtue of this writ I claim the package." Morris: "No you dont Mr. Sherriff." Glentworth: "This is my property and I'll Keep it at the risk of my life." On the left Mayor Isaac Varian struggles with another man. Varian says, "The package is gone Officers shut the door." A third man comments, "I like that. Shut the door When the horse is stolen." Others lament "O.K. orful Konspiracy." and "O.K. orful Katastrophe." and "O.K. help the journal of Kommerce." The term "O. K.," standing for Van Buren's nickname Old Kinderhook, was a watchword of Loco Foco Democrats during the election campaign of 1840.|Drawn by "Spoodlyks".|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y. & Pennsa. Avenue Washington D.C.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 171.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-62.

One in a series of racist posters attacking Radical Republicans on the issue of black suffrage, issued during the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1866. (See also "The Constitutional Amendment!," no. 1866-5.) The series advocates the election of Hiester Clymer, who ran for governor on a white-supremacy platform, supporting President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies. In this poster a black man lounges idly in the foreground as one white man ploughs his field and another chops wood. Accompanying labels are: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread," and "The white man must work to keep his children and pay his taxes." The black man wonders, "Whar is de use for me to work as long as dey make dese appropriations." Above in a cloud is an image of the "Freedman's Bureau! Negro Estimate of Freedom!" The bureau is pictured as a large domed building resembling the U.S. Capitol and is inscribed "Freedom and No Work." Its columns and walls are labeled, "Candy," "Rum, Gin, Whiskey," "Sugar Plums," "Indolence," "White Women," "Apathy," "White Sugar," "Idleness," "Fish Balls," "Clams," "Stews," and "Pies." At right is a table giving figures for the funds appropriated by Congress to support the bureau and information on the inequity of the bounties received by black and white veterans of the Civil War. |Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1866-6.

Freedom's Fortress: The Library of Congress, 1939-1953 presents a window into the history of the Library of Congress during a particularly important period. From 1939 to 1953 the Library underwent a myriad of changes that established the institution as one of America's foremost citadels of intellectual freedom.