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Standard and Short Edition:
1 American Political Culture
2 The Founding and the Constitution
3 Federalism
4 Civil Liberties
5 Civil Rights
6 Public Opinion
7 The Media
8 Political Participation and Voting
9 Political Parties
10 Campaigns and Elections
11 Groups and Interests
12 Congress
13 The Presidency
14 Bureaucracy In A Democracy
15 The Federal Courts
16 Government and Economy
17 Social Policy
18 Foreign Policy and Democracy
Texas Edition:
19 The Political Culture, People, and Economy of Texas
20 The Texas Constitution
21 Parties and Elections in Texas
22 Interest Groups, Lobbying, and Lobbyists
23 The Texas Legislature
24 The Texas Executive Branch
25 The Texas Judiciary
26 Local Government in Texas
27 Public Policy in Texas

Chapter 12: Congress

Get Involved Exercise

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What You Can Do

Can ordinary students influence Congress? Members of Congress do listen to their constituents. You can join a petition drive and send it to a politician by going to the Web site for e.thePeople (http://www.e-thepeople.org/), an interactive town hall, at www.e-thepeople.org. Both national and regional issues are available. You may also design your own petition at this site. After selecting your issue, make up a petition such as the sample below and ask ten people to sign it.

[Download blank petition]


  1. How many people did you have to ask before you got ten signatures?

  1. Did the signers read the petition and understand what they were signing?

  1. What reasons did people give for not signing the petition? Were you surprised at their reasons?

  1. What is the name and mailing address of your local congressional representative?

  1. Do you think that petitions like this have an effect on Congress? Explain.



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