Since its ratification in 1788 there have been 27 amendments to the Constitution. The first 10 amendments, adopted in 1791 and known collectively as the Bill of Rights, established a number of individual liberties, including speech, religion, the press, and the rights of the criminally accused. Among other important amendments are the Thirteenth (1865), which abolished slavery; the Fourteenth (1868), which granted citizenship rights to former slaves and guaranteed to every citizen due process and equal protection of the laws; the Fifteenth (1870), which granted voting rights to former male slaves; the Seventeenth (1913), which provided for the direct election of U.S. senator

The executive branch is headed by the president, who must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the country for at least 14 years. The president's official residence and office is the White House in Washington, D.C. The formal constitutional responsibilities vested in the presidency of the United States include serving as commander in chief of the armed forces; negotiating treaties; appointing federal judges, ambassadors, and cabinet officials; and acting as head of state. In practice, presidential powers have expanded to include drafting legislation, formulating foreign policy, conducting personal diplomacy, and leading the president's political party. The members of the president's cabinet—the attorney general and the secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Education, Energy, and Veterans Affairs—are appointed by the president with the approval of the Senate; although they are described in the Twenty-Fifth Amendment as “the principal officers of the executive departments,” significant power has flowed to non-cabinet-level presidential aides, such as those serving in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Council of Economic Advisers, the National Security Council (NSC), and the office of the White House Chief of Staff.

The U.S. president's cabinet is entirely different from the British-style cabinet. It is composed of the heads of executive departments chosen by the president with the consent of the Senate, but the members do not hold seats in Congress, and their tenure, like that of the president himself, does not depend on favourable votes on administration measures in the national legislature. Cabinet meetings are not required under the U.S. Constitution, which in fact makes no mention of such a body. The existence of the cabinet and its operations are matters of custom rather than of law, and the cabinet as a collective body has no legal existence or power. The first American president, George Washington, began the custom of consulting regularly with his department heads as a group. The term “cabinet” was first used for the heads of the state, treasury, and war departments by James Madison in 1793. Gradually, as administrative duties increased and different problems arose, new executive departments were created by Congress, until by the late 20th century the U.S. cabinet consisted of at least 14 department heads, or secretaries.

Below the Supreme Court are the United States courts of appeals. Special courts handle property and contract damage suits against the United States (United States Court of Federal Claims), review customs rulings (United States Court of International Trade), and apply the Uniform Code of Military Justice (United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces). Each state has at least one federal district court and at least one federal judge. District judges are appointed for life terms by the president with the consent of the Senate. Appeals from district-court decisions are carried to the courts of appeals.

The House of Representatives is chosen by the direct vote of the electorate in single-member districts in each state. The number of representatives allotted to each state is based on its population as determined by a decennial census. The overall membership of the House has been 435 since the 1910s, though it was temporarily expanded to 437 after Hawaii and Alaska were admitted as states in 1959. Members must be 25 years old, residents of the states from which they are elected, and previously citizens of the United States for at least seven years. It has become a practical imperative—though not a constitutional requirement—that a member be an inhabitant of the district that elects him. Members serve two-year terms. The speaker of the House, who is chosen by the majority party, presides over debate, appo

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