United States: Government

The government of the United States is that of a federal republic set up by the Constitution of the United States, adopted by the Constitutional Convention of 1787. There is a division of powers between the federal government and the state governments. The federal government consists of three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive power is vested in the President and, in the event of the President's incapacity, the Vice President. (For a chronological list of all the presidents and vice presidents of the United States, including their terms in office and political parties, see the table entitled Presidents of the United States.) The executive conducts the administrative business of the nation with the aid of a cabinet composed of the Attorney General and the Secretaries of the Departments of State; Treasury; Defense; Interior; Agriculture; Commerce; Labor; Health and Human Services; Education; Housing and Urban Development; Transportation; Energy; and Veterans' Affairs.

The Congress of the United States, the legislative branch, is bicameral and consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The judicial branch is formed by the federal courts and headed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The members of the Congress are elected by universal suffrage (see election) as are the members of the electoral college, which formally chooses the President and the Vice President.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Related Articles
• The George W. Bush Presidency, 9/11, and Iraq
• Bush, Clinton, and Bush
• The Reagan Years
• Internationalism and the End of the Cold WarFord and Carter
• The Nixon Years
• The Great Society, the Vietnam War, and Watergate and the Vietnam War
• The United States in a Divided World
• World War II
• From Prosperity to Depression
• World War I
• Expansionists and Progressives
• The Late Nineteenth Century
• Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction
• Jackson to the Mexican War
• Madison, Monroe, and Adams
• Washington, Adams, and Jefferson
• The States in Union
• Colonial America
• European Exploration and Settlement
• Government
• Economy
• Religion and Education
• People
• Climate
• Major Rivers and Lakes
• The Pacific Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii
• The Western Mountains and Great Basin
• The Plains and Highlands of the Interior
• The East and the Gulf Coast
• Physical Geography
• Political Geography
• Geographical Studies

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