14 Questions About Government in the United States Answered

The United States government carries out a census every ten years, as is set forth in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The census survey asks questions about people in the United States. The survey gathers information about how many people are in a household, how old they are, and how they self-identify their gender, race, and ethnicity. In 1790 the first census counted 4 million people living in the United States. According to the 2020 census, there are more than 331 million.

The census count tells a state how many people it can send to represent it in the U.S. Congress, which includes both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Every state sends two people to the Senate. But the House of Representatives is different—the number of people a state sends to the House is based on that state’s population. According to the 2020 census, the state with the smallest population is Wyoming, while the state with the largest population is California. Wyoming can send only one person to the House of Representatives, but California can send 52 people to the House.

The census also provides information about everyday things, so that the government can tell which states and regions of the country need improvements. If a town has more children living in it than it had ten years ago (when the last census count was taken), this might be a good place to build another school. Or, if workers in a city are spending too much time getting to work, this might be a good place to build more roads or increase public transportation, including subways and buses.

The census, in other words, provides the data on which government—whose focus is the people of the United States—and its potential activity are built.

Government in the United States is the institution that creates and enforces public policies. Public policies are all the things that the government, at all levels, decides to do, such as impose an income tax, service its armed forces, protect and manage the environment, and hold businesses to certain standards. In the democratic United States, voters elect people to government to represent them. Those who exercise the powers of the government include legislators, who make laws; executives and administrators, who administer and enforce those laws; and judges, who interpret the law. Each year, Congress enacts about 500 laws, and state legislators enact about 25,000 laws. Local governments enact thousands and thousands of ordinances, or city laws.

The U.S. federal government is the national government of the United States of America. It includes the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch is responsible for enforcing the laws of the United States. Its main components include the president, the vice president, and government departments and agencies. The president is the leader of the country and commander in chief of the armed forces; the vice president is the president of the Senate and the first in line for the presidency should the president be unable to serve; the departments and their heads (called Cabinet members) advise the president on decisions that affect the country; and agencies help carry out the president’s policies and provide special services. The legislative branch is the lawmaking branch of the federal government. It is made up of a bicameral (or two-chamber) Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The judicial branch, made up of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, is responsible for interpreting the meaning of laws, how they are applied, and whether or not they violate the Constitution.

The chief duty of the president of the United States is to protect the Constitution and enforce the laws made by Congress. However, the president also has a host of other responsibilities tied to this job description. They include: recommending legislation (laws) to Congress, calling special sessions of Congress, delivering messages to Congress, signing or vetoing legislation, nominating federal judges, appointing heads of federal departments and agencies and other principal federal officials, appointing representatives to foreign countries, carrying on official business with foreign nations, acting as commander in chief of the armed forces, and granting pardons for offenses against the United States.

The U.S. Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are responsible for representing the people of the states who elect them. This involves voting on and writing bills in the U.S. Congress. There are, however, some major differences between a U.S. senator and a representative. While both senators and representatives are permitted to introduce bills, senators are restricted from introducing bills that raise revenue, such as tax bills. There are 100 senators in Congress; two senators are allotted for each state. This number is independent of each state’s population. However, the number of U.S. representatives a state has is determined by the population of that particular state. There are 435 representatives in Congress, and each state has at least one representative. Another difference involves the length of time a senator and a representative are permitted to serve. A senator represents their state for a six-year term. A representative, on the other hand, serves for a two-year term.

Like the U.S. federal government, state governments have three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial. Each branch functions and works a lot like the corresponding branch at the federal level. The chief executive of a state is the governor, who is elected by popular vote, typically (with notable exceptions) for a four-year term. Except for Nebraska, which has a single legislative body, all states have a bicameral (two-house) legislature, with the upper house usually called the Senate and the lower house called the House of Representatives, the House of Delegates, or the General Assembly. The sizes of these two legislatures vary. Typically, the upper house is made up of between 30 and 50 members; the lower house is made up of between 100 and 150 members.

A governor of a U.S. state is responsible for the well-being of their state. The details of this job include many hands-on tasks and leadership duties. The governor’s executive powers include the appointment and removal of state officials, the supervision of executive branch staff, the formulation of the state budget, and the leadership of the state militia as its commander in chief. Law-making powers include the power to recommend legislation, to call special sessions of the legislature, and to veto measures passed by the legislature. In more than 40 states, governors have the power to veto (or reject) several parts of a bill without rejecting it altogether. The governor can also pardon (excuse) a criminal or reduce a criminal’s sentence.

The mayor-council is the oldest form of city government in the United States. Its structure is similar to that of the state and federal governments, with an elected mayor as chief of the executive branch and an elected council that represents the various neighborhoods, forming the legislative branch. The mayor usually appoints heads of city departments and other officials. The mayor also has the power to veto the laws of the city (called ordinances), and prepares the city’s budget. The council passes city laws, sets the tax rates on property, and decides how the city departments spend their money.

The town meeting is one aspect of local government that still exists today, after having been created in the early years of the United States. At least once a year the registered voters of the town meet in open session to elect officers, debate local issues, and pass laws for operating a government. As a group, or body, they decide on road construction and repair, construction of public buildings and facilities (such as libraries and parks), tax rates, and the town budget. Having existed for more than two centuries, the town meeting is often called the purest form of direct democracy because governmental power is not delegated but instead exercised directly by the people. However, town meetings cannot be found in every area of the United States. They are mostly conducted in the small towns of New England, where the first colonies were established.

The Bill of Rights is made up of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Bill of Rights guarantees rights and liberties to the American people. These amendments were proposed by Congress in 1789, and ratified (approved) by three-fourths of the states on December 15, 1791, thereby officially becoming part of the Constitution. The first eight amendments outline many individual rights, while the Ninth and Tenth Amendments are general rules of interpretation of the relationship among the people, the state governments, and the federal government.

The Bill of Rights limits the ability of the government to intrude upon certain individual liberties, guaranteeing freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion to the people of the United States. Nearly two-thirds of the Bill of Rights was written to safeguard the rights of those suspected or accused of a crime, providing for due process of law, fair trials, freedom from self-incrimination and from cruel and unusual punishment, and protection against being tried twice in court for the same crime. Since the adoption of the Bill of Rights, 17 additional amendments have been added to the Constitution. While a number of these amendments revised how the federal government is structured and operates, many expanded individual rights and freedoms.

Laws are enforced by the courts and the judicial system. If someone breaks a law or a business or organization does something illegal, they go to the judicial branch of government for review of their actions. The judicial branch is made up of different courts. The court leader, or judge, interprets the meaning of laws, how they are applied, and whether they break the rules of the Constitution. If a person or group is found guilty of breaking a law, the judicial system decides how they should be punished.

In the United States, laws have been written to protect the rights of someone accused of committing a crime. That person is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Someone suspected of a crime is usually arrested and taken into custody by a police officer. Sometimes, the case is presented before a grand jury (a group of citizens who examines the accusations made). The grand jury files an indictment, or a formal charge, if there appears to be enough evidence for a trial. In many criminal cases, however, there is no grand jury. While awaiting trial, the accused may be temporarily released, sometimes on bail (which is the amount of money meant to guarantee that the person will return for trial instead of leaving the country), or kept in a local jail. Trials are usually held before a judge and a jury of 12 citizens. The government presents its case against an accused person, or defendant, through a district attorney, and another attorney defends the accused. If the defendant is judged innocent, they are released. If they are found guilty of committing a crime, the judge decides the punishment or sentence, using established guidelines. The convicted person may be forced to pay a fine, pay damages, or go to prison.

Citizens of the United States enjoy all of the freedoms, protections, and legal rights that the Constitution promises. However, living in the United States doesn’t automatically make a person an American citizen. People born in the United States or born to U.S. citizens in foreign countries are granted citizenship in the United States. Persons born in other countries who want to become citizens must apply for and pass a citizenship test. Those who become citizens in this way are called naturalized citizens.

Republics such as the United States are based upon a voting population. If the citizens of the country do not vote, then politicians do not necessarily need to heed their interests. It is necessary for the people of a democratic country to constitutionally voice their opinions, and they do this by voting for their city, state, and country’s leaders and on issues and initiatives presented to them in elections.