Government: USA (general)

Early Days

Name given to the first two conventions of delegates from the 13 American colonies (Philadelphia, 1774 and 1775–6), which became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution		Continental Congress
Body that succeeded the Continental Congress following the Declaration of Independence, 1781–9; succeeded by the US Congress following the adoption of the Constitution		Congress of the Confederation

The Constitution

The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia, from 25 May to 17 September ... (year)		1787
The Constitution was ratified by the requisite nine states (of thirteen) in (year)		1788
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as the		Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments were ratified in (year)		1791

1st amendment		Prohibition of established religion, freedom of speech, etc.
2nd amendment		Right to bear arms
5th amendment		Protection against double jeopardy, self–incrimination, etc.
6th amendment		Right to trial by jury in criminal cases
7th amendment		Right to trial by jury in civil cases
13th amendment (1865)		Abolition of slavery
18th amendment (1919) – popularly known as the Volstead Act		Prohibition of alcohol
19th amendment (1920)		Votes for women
21st amendment (1933)		Repealed the 18th
22nd amendment (1951)		Limits presidents to two terms
27th amendment (1992) – the last to date		Limits congressional pay rises

Note: the 13th amendment was passed under Abraham Lincoln, but it was adopted under Andrew Johnson. It was passed by the Senate on 8 April 1864 and by the House of Representatives on 31 January 1865, and adopted on 6 December 1865. Lincoln was shot on 14 April 1865, and died the next day; Johnson was sworn in on the day he died.

Miscellaneous

Minimum number of electors, which the seven least populous states have in the Electoral College		3
US presidential term		4 years

The eagle depicted on both the Great Seal of the United States and the Seal of the President holds in its right talon an olive branch, with 13 leaves and 13 olives, and in its left

13 arrows

US presidents must ...	... have been born in		the USA
	... have lived in the USA for at least		14 years
	... be at least (age)		35 years
Third in line for the US Presidency (after the Vice President)			Speaker of the House of Representatives
Term of office for a Senator			7 years
Since 1845, US presidential elections have been held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in			November

Chief law officer and senior Government legal advisor		Attorney General
US equivalent of Hansard		Congress Diary
US equivalent of Britain's Foreign Office		Department of State
Symbol of the Democratic Party		Donkey
Symbol of the Republican Party		Elephant
Tune traditionally played to greet the President at official functions		Hail to the Chief
Popular term for a president whose successor has been elected but has not yet taken office		Lame duck
Republican who supported Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the 1884 presidential election – hence any political neutral		Mugwump
First state to hold primaries in the four–year presidential election cycle		New Hampshire
US equivalent of Britain's Foreign Secretary		Secretary of State
Movement within the Republican Party, founded following Obama's inauguration and his announcement that he would give financial aid to bankrupt homeowners; named after an event of 1773		Tea Party movement
Day of the week on which US elections are always held		Tuesday
Presides over meetings of the US Senate (it's his only constitutional role)		Vice President

Mayor of Palm Springs, California, 1988–92; Member of the House of Representatives for California' 44th District (part of Los Angeles), from 1995 until his death as a result of a skiing accident in 1998; had a No. 1 hit in 1965 with his then wife; also co–wrote Needles and Pins with Jack Nitzsche		Sonny Bono
Former astronaut: stood as Senator for Ohio, 1974–99; ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1984, but was defeated by Walter Mondale (who was defeated in Reagan's second victory)		John Glenn
Defeated candidate in the 2000 US Presidential Election: the first since 1888, and only the third in history, to win the most popular votes but lose out under the Electoral College system		Al Gore
Served as Senator for Massachusetts, from 1962 until his death in 2009 (making him the third longest–serving US senator in history); received a two–month suspended prison sentence in 1969 after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of the Chappaquiddick incident, which resulted in the death of his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne; stood for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1980, but was defeated by the incumbent President, Jimmy Carter		Ted Kennedy
Mayor of Cincinnati, 1977–8: went on to become a famous television personality		Jerry Springer
Sean Spicer (Jan to July, 2017), Sarah Sanders (July 2017 to July 2019), Stephanie Grisham (July 2019 to April 2020) and Kayleigh McEnany (April 2020 to Jan 2021) were the four people who served under Donald Trump as		White House Press Secretary

Secretaries of State (selected)

2021 to date (Biden)		Antony Blinken
2018–21 (Trump)		Mike Pompeo
2017–18 (Trump)		Rex Tillerson
2013–17 (Obama)		John Kerry
2009–13 (Obama)		Hillary Clinton
2005–9 (George W. Bush) – first African American woman		Condoleezza Rice
2001–5 (George W. Bush) – first African American		Colin Powell
1997–2001 (Clinton) – first woman		Madeleine Albright
1993–7 (Clinton)		Warren Christopher
1982–9 (Reagan)		George Schultz
1977–80 (Carter)		Cyrus Vance
1973–7 (Nixon, Ford)		Henry Kissinger
1961–9 (Kennedy, Johnson)		Dean Rusk
1953–9 (Eisenhower)		John Foster Dulles
1949–53 (Truman)		Dean Acheson
1947–9 (Truman)		George C. Marshall
1933–44 (F. D. Roosevelt)		Cordell Hull
1925–9 (Coolidge, Hoover)		Frank B. Kellogg

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24