POLI-3110 The US Congress

Required Readings/Viewing

The Constitution of the United States:

• Articles I, II, III and IV
• Bill of Rights

The Federalist Papers:

• Number 10 - "The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection"
• Number 51 - "The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments"

The Contemporary Congress, pp ix – xi, 1-40

Congress Reconsidered, pp. xiii-xvii

Congress Profiles, 1st Congress (1789-1791). United States House of Representatives, History, Art and Archives.

Royce Crocker. (November 21, 2012). Congressional redistricting: an overview. Congressional Research Service CRS Report for Congress.

Jeffrey Toobin. (Dec. 2003). The Great Election Grab: when does gerrymandering become a threat to democracy? The New Yorker 79(38), 063.

C-SPAN. (2015, November 14). First Congress and the Bill of Rights [Video]. C-SPAN. https://www.c-span.org/program/american-history-tv/first-congress-and-the-bill-of-rights/395400

C-SPAN. (2014, April 2). Congress at 225 years [Video]. C-SPAN. https://www.c-span.org/program/american-history-tv/congress-at-225-years/342973

Reading of the United States Constitution by Members of the 113^th Congress

The National Archives. America’s Founding Documents.

Birth of the Nation: The First Federal Congress 1789-1791; see especially:

• New York City as the Seat of Government
• Setting Precedent
• Amendments to the Constitution

National Park Service - Federal Hall, Birthplace of American Government

• First Congress and the Bill of Rights (00:59:08, captioned, transcript available)

   

• Congress at 225 Years (1:21:02, captioned, transcript available)