American National Government: An Overview

Power in American national government is decentralized, divided, dispersed, and limited. This distribution of power derives in part from the Constitution, through limitations imposed on the government, the system of checks and balances among the three branches, and independent bases of support and authority for each branch. The report discusses the U.S. Constitution the separate institutions of the Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court restrictions on serving in another branch the independent electoral bases of the President and Congress, including each ones voting system judicial independence institutional supports checks and balances and shared responsibilities in terms of lawmaking, national security policy, executive and judicial appointments, and criminal investigations and the Federal Governments dispersed and decentralized organization. This report, which examines these characteristics, will be updated as developments require.