Introduction to This Page
This page is meant to supplement the syllabus and lectures for my undergraduate course "American Government: Laws and Institutions" (PSCI 2306) at the University of North Texas. It is organized along the same outline as the reading list for the course, to help students who wish to go beyond the original assigned readings.
Obviously, this page -- like any other page on the Web -- is a work in progress. I will do my best to keep it up-to-date throughout the semester. Unfortunately, many of these links may be redirected or even removed from the Web by the end of the semester (one semester I found that over one-third of all of the links on one of my pages broke between September and December). I would appreciate being informed via email if you find any broken links on this page, so that I can attempt to fix or delete the link in question.
General Resources
You might find the following resources to be helpful in studying American politics. Most of these are documents that were mentioned in lecture, or that offer useful insight into American (or Texas) government and politics. This section of the syllabus will be updated as the semester moves along.
General Political Resources
- Roper Center Polls Archive (available through any UNT computer, or sign in through the UNT library using your EUID)
- Fact checkers:
- Project Fact Check (from the Annenberg Public Policy Center)
- Politifact (from the Tampa Bay Times)
- Snopes.com
- OpenSecrets.org (track donations to political campaigns)
Official U.S. Government Sites
- FedStats.gov (access to data from over 100 federal agencies, organized by data type so the user doesn't need to know which agency produced the needed data)
- FedWorld Information Network
- Government Printing Office
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
- Charters of Freedom (background, full text, and other resources related to the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights)
- Federal Register
- Statistical Abstract of the United States (see also Historical Statistics)
- U.S. Library of Congress
- USA.gov ("the U.S. government's official web portal")
Other Sites
- Center for Responsive Politics
- Policy.com ("the policy community online")
- Politics1.com ("The Ultimate Guide to U.S. Politics & Elections ... since 1997"; by Ron Gunzburger)
- U.S. Federal Government Resources on the Web (from the University of Michigan library)
- U.S. Government Resources - by Agency (from Northwestern University)
The Constitution
U.S. Political Culture
- Alexis de Tocqueville (1831), Democracy in America
- Border Crossing/Entry Data (from the US Department of Transportation; select port location=Texas and select "all Texas ports" to get a total of border crossings into Texas over the selected time period)
Early Documents
- The Magna Carta (signed 1215; this is a translation of an amended version from 1297)
- The Mayflower Compact (November 11, 1620)
- British Acts of Parliament (including the Stamp Act, Tea Act, Intolerable Acts, and others, from 1763-1783)
- Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress (October 19, 1765)
- Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (October 14, 1774)
- The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
- The Articles of Confederation (signed November 15, 1777; took effect March 1, 1781)
- Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783; treaty between Great Britain and the American colonies recognizing the independence of the new United States)
- The Federalist Papers:
- Federalist number 10 (James Madison, 1787, "The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection")
- Federalist number 51 (Madison or Alexander Hamilton, 1788, "The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments")
The U.S. Constitution
- The Constitution of the United States (signed September 17, 1777; took effect March 4, 1789)
- Annotated copy of the Constitution (with explanatory notes next to each section; from the U.S. Senate)
- The Bill of Rights (approved by Congress September 25, 1789; ratified by the states December 15, 1791)
- More Recent Amendments
- Constitute (a Google project that allows you to read any country's constitution, compare several constitutions, or search for which constitutions have certain types of provisions)
The Texas Constitution
- 1824 Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States (the first national-level constitution affecting Texas)
- 1827 Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas (Texas' first state constitution)
- 1833 Constitution or Form of Government of the State of Texas
- 1835 Declaration of the People of Texas
- 1836 Declaration, with Plan and Powers for the Provisional Government of Texas
- 1836 Declaration of Independence
- 1836 Constitution of the Republic of Texas (the first constitution of the independent Republic of Texas)
- 1845 Constitution of Texas (the new state constitution as Texas joined the U.S.)
- 1861 Constitution of the State of Texas (the Civil War-era constitution of Texas as part of the Confederacy)
- 1866 Constitution of the State of Texas (the first post-Civil War constitution as part of the U.S. again)
- 1869 Constitution of the State of Texas
- The Texas Constitution and Statutes (the current constitution, dating to 1876)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution since 1876
Federalism / State and Local Government
General Issues in Federalism: National vs. State Governments
- Census of Governments (from the U.S. Census Bureau)
- State and Local Government on the Net
- State, County, and City QuickFacts and State Rankings (geographic, demographic, and economic data; from the U.S. Census Bureau)
- USA Counties data (from the U.S. Census Bureau)
- State and Metropolitan Area Data Book and County and City Data Book (from the U.S. Census Bureau)
Local Government in Denton
- Texas State and Local Governments on the Net
- Denton County government:
- Budget Office: see especially revenue summary, expenditure summary, employee summary
- Departments
- Denton city government:
- Texas Independent School District profiles
- Denton Independent School District (one of 17 school districts serving part of Denton County; the others can be found using the search interface at the above link)
- A few special purpose districts related to Denton County:
- Denco 9-1-1 District (emergency communication service for Denton County and Carrollton)
- Denton County Transportation Authority (bus and train service for Denton County)
- Special Purpose Districts in Denton County that collect property taxes
- Special Purpose Districts in Texas that collect sales/use taxes
- Special Purpose Districts: Creation and dissolution procedures
The Legislative Branch
The U.S. Congress
- Who Represents Me? (look up the federal and state senators and representatives for your district, based on your address)
- U.S. Senate
- U.S. House of Representatives
- Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet (from the Library of Congress)
- Records of the Legislative Branch (from NARA)
- The Hill ("The capitol newspaper")
- Roll Call ("The newspaper of Capitol Hill since 1955")
The Texas Legislature
- (more resources to be added later in the semester)
The Executive Branch
The U.S. President
- The White House
- Records of the Executive Branch (from NARA)
- The Electoral College:
- What is the Electoral College? (from the National Archives and Records Administration)
- Electoral College Fast Facts (from the U.S. House of Representatives)
- 270toWin's Electoral College Simulator
- Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States (from Project Bartleby)
- Periodic Table of the Presidents (see also a different design)
- Presidents of the United States (from the Internet Public Library)
Cabinet-Level Departments
- Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Defense
- Department of Education
- Department of Energy
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS
- Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Department of the Interior
- Department of Justice
- Department of Labor
- Department of State
- Department of Transportation
- Department of the Treasury
- Department of Veterans Affairs
Other Government Bureaus and Agencies
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Federal Reserve System - Board of Governors
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- Peace Corps
- U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)
- U.S. Trade Representative
The Texas Executive Branch
- (more resources to be added later in the semester)
The Judicial Branch
The Federal Court System
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Cornell Law School's Supreme Court Resources
- Court TV's Supreme Court Coverage
- FindLaw's Supreme Court Resources
- Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Resources (Supreme Court case summaries, arguments, and multimedia resources; from Northwestern University)
- U.S. Federal Courts
- Records of the Judicial Branch (from NARA)
The Texas Court System
- (more resources to be added later in the semester)
Civil Liberties
- (more resources to be added later in the semester)
Civil Rights
- (more resources to be added later in the semester)
Elections and Public Opinion
- Federal Election Commission
- The Electoral College
- American National Election Studies (ANES)
- Gallup Organization (the well-known polling organization provides access to a variety of topical polling data on its web site)
- Commission on Presidential Debates
- General Social Survey
- League of Women Voters
- Program on International Policy Attitudes (from the Center on Policy Attitudes (COPA) and the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) at the University of Maryland)
- Project Vote Smart
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Last updated: 30 July 2018
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