3.3.3 Practice Does Congress Look Like America PDF

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3.3.3 Practice: Does Congress Look Like

Practice Assignment

America?

U.S. Government and Politics (S4504825)

Erin Yamane

Points possible: 10

Date: ____________

For this assignment, you will examine and compare the demographic makeup of the U.S. population and of Congress and analyze how accurately Congress itself reflects the nation's people. To get the best grade possible, follow the instructions in the assignment closely and answer all questions completely. This assignment is worth 10 points.

Use the provided web research links to fill in the missing information from the table. Some of the percentages have been provided for you. To find the demographic percentages for the 114th Congress, you will need to read through the "Gender and Ethnicity" section of the web page "Membership of the 114th Congress: A Profile." Use the content of your completed table to answer the questions that follow. This section is worth 4 points. Demographic

Percentage of members of the

Percentage of total U.S. population

categories

114th Congress

in 2014

Women

20%

50.8%

Men

80%

49.2%

Gender

Ethnicity

White

80%

61%

8.7%

12%

7%

18%

2.6%

6%

Under 1%

1%

Americans

African Americans

Hispanic/Latin o Americans

Asian Americans

American Indians

1. Which demographic categories are underrepresented in Congress? (0.5 point)

American Indians

2. Which demographic categories are overrepresented in Congress? (0.5 point)

White Americans (Men) 3. Which demographic category has the biggest gap between its percentage of the population and its representation in Congress? What is the difference? (1 point)

Hispanic/Latino Americans, there is a less population of them and less of them are represented in Congress.

4. How has representation in Congress changed throughout U.S. history? Use the web research links to the graphs titled "Racial Composition of Congress over Time" and "Gender Composition of Congress over Time." (1 point)

Throughout time, representation in Congress became more diverse, from being dominated entirely by White American men at first to later on including women, and different ethnicities.

Use your research and your understanding of the principles of popular sovereignty and republicanism to answer the following questions. This section is worth 6 points. 1. Define the principles of popular sovereignty and republicanism and explain how they relate to the way the people of the United States are represented in Congress. (2 points)

Popular sovereignty is a doctrine or belief that government is created by and subject to the will of the people. (Ruled by people and people get to vote for choices) Republicanism the right of the people to vote for representatives. They both relate from people control over things not the government’s choice only it's the public’s choice.

2. Do you think that the demographic makeup of Congress should exactly mirror the makeup of the U.S. population in order to fully exemplify the principles of popular sovereignty and republicanism? Explain your answer. (2 points)

People need choices and government needs to stop control the public.

3. Explain how the demographic makeup of the 114th Congress reflects the population of the United States. How does the current makeup of Congress exemplify the principles of popular sovereignty and republicanism? (2 points)

Popular sovereignty is bigger now than before, but it's still low used and republicanism maintains its majority in the House and won majority in the Senate....