The following
outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to American politics:
American politics
In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, C ...
– The
politics
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
Features of American politics
Branches of government
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Legislative Branch
A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...
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List of United States Congresses
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Executive Branch
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Judicial Branch
Levels of government
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National government
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State governments
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Local governments
Elections
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Contested elections in American history
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Electoral College
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First-past-the-post voting
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
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Gerrymandering
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Nonpartisan blanket primary
A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...
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Ranked-choice voting
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Runoff voting
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Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
History of American politics
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History of the United States Congress
Party systems
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First Party System
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Second Party System
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Third Party System
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Fourth Party System
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Fifth Party System
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Sixth Party System
Notable events
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Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
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Direct election of Senators
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Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
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Republican Revolution of '94
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Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, the List of presidents of the United States, 42nd president of the United States, was Federal impeachment in the United States, impeached by the United States House of Representatives of the 105th United States Congress on Decem ...
American politics organizations
Political parties
List of political parties in the United States
This list of political parties in the United States, both past and present, does not include independents.
Not all states allow the public to access voter registration data. Therefore, voter registration data should not be taken as the correct ...
The two major national parties are:
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Democratic Party
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History of the Democratic Party
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Democrat in name only
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Republican Party
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History of the Republican Party
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Republican in name only
Documents central to American politics
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United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...
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United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
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The Federalist Papers
''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The ...
''
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United States Bill of Rights
The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten list of amendments to the United States Constitution, amendments to the United States Constitution. It was proposed following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the Timeline of dr ...
Presidency
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Acting President of the United States
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Executive Office of the President of the United States
The Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The office consists o ...
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History
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
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List of presidents of the United States
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year Term of office, term via the United States Electoral College, Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constituti ...
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Natural-born-citizen clause (United States)
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Powers of the president of the United States
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Presidential immunity in the United States
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United States presidential election
The election of the president of the United States, president and Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are Voter registration in the United ...
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United States presidential line of succession
The United States presidential line of succession is the order of succession, order in which the vice president of the United States and other Officer of the United States, officers of the United States federal government assume the powers an ...
Joe Biden
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American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
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CHIPS and Science Act
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Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Donald Trump
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Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election
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Donald Trump Supreme Court candidates
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First Step Act
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Great American Outdoors Act
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Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election
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Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
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Trump administration family separation policy
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January 6 United States Capitol attack
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources:
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Pardon of January 6 United States Capitol attack defendants
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2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
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Liberation Day tariffs
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Rhetoric of Donald Trump
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E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump
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Executive Order 13769
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CARES Act
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New York business fraud lawsuit against the Trump Organization
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The Trump Organization
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Impeachment of Donald Trump
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Efforts to impeach Donald Trump
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List of impeachment resolutions introduced against Donald Trump
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Proposed expungements of the impeachments of Donald Trump
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First impeachment of Donald Trump
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First impeachment trial of Donald Trump
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Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump
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Second impeachment of Donald Trump
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Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump
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Donald Trump Supreme Court candidates
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Trump v. Anderson
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Trumpism
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List of people granted executive clemency by Donald Trump
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Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations
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List of awards and honors received by Donald Trump
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Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal
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Pseudonyms used by Donald Trump
Legal issues
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Personal and business legal affairs of Donald Trump
By time
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Timeline of the Donald Trump presidencies
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First presidency of Donald Trump
Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...
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Immigration policy of the first Donald Trump administration
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Legal affairs of the first Donald Trump presidency
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Tariffs in the first Trump administration
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Second presidency of Donald Trump
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Immigration policy of the second Donald Trump administration
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Legal affairs of the second Donald Trump presidency
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Tariffs in the second Trump administration
Persons influential in American politics
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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Founding Fathers of the United States
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List of politicians associated with Trumpism
See also
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2021 United States Capitol car attack
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Deep state conspiracy theory in the United States
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Democratic backsliding in the United States
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First hundred days (United States)
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First 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency
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First 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency
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First 100 days of Donald Trump's first presidency
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First 100 days of Joe Biden's presidency
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First 100 days of Donald Trump's second presidency
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Left–right political spectrum
The left–right political spectrum is a system of classifying political positions, ideologies and political parties, parties, with emphasis placed upon issues of social equality and social hierarchy. In addition to positions on the left and on ...
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Party switching in the United States
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List of party switchers in the United States
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Slavery in the United States
The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865 ...
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War on terror
Political positions
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Vice President of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...
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List of vice presidents of the United States
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Natural-born-citizen clause (United States)
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Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United ...
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List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives
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Chief Justice of the United States
The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary. Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution g ...
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List of chief justices
References
Further reading
* Greenstein, Fred I. et al. ''Evolution of the modern presidency : a bibliographical survey'' (1977) bibliography and annotation of 2500 scholarly books and articles
online4
External links
{{Outline footer
American politics
In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, C ...
American politics
In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, C ...
Politics of the United States