United States Government Documents
A guide to locating U.S. government documents at the Dickinson Law Library and online.
Finding Federal Government Resources
- Congress.govCongress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information and includes information on the current legislative calendar, legislative activities, the legislative process and members of Congress. Congress.gov includes the full text of Congressional bills and amendments, the Congressional Record, committee reports from 1995 onward, and Public Laws from the 93rd Congress onward. It also offers the ability to search the status of current legislation, and includes a link to the U.S. Founding Documents website and the Century of Lawmaking website, which include links to the U.S. Code, Congressional documents and debates, and other historical information from 1774-1875. (Formerly Thomas.)
- Data.govData.gov is the federal government's open data site. Launched by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in May 2009 with a modest 47 datasets, Data.gov has grown to over 200,000 datasets from hundreds of data sources including federal agencies, states, counties, and cities. Data.gov provides easy access to government datasets covering a wide range of topics—everything from weather, demographics, health, education, housing, and agriculture, and more.
- e-CFRThis electronic version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) provides access to the latest version of the CFR. While it is updated daily, it is not considered to be an official version of the CFR. Check the top of each page for the current update status.
- GovinfoLegislative documents published by the Government Publishing Office (GPO) are available here. These include Congressional Bills from the 103rd Congress forward, Congressional Reports from the 104th Congress forward, and the History of Bills from 1983 forward. Govinfo also includes the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents from 1993 to date and the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States from 1992 to date. (Govinfo replaced FDSys in December 2018.)
- Regulations.govProvides access to federal regulatory content. Users can search all publicly available regulatory materials, (e.g., posted public comments, supporting analyses, FR notices, and rules); submit comments on a regulation; submit an applications or adjudication document; download agencies regulatory materials; sign up for email alerts about a specific regulations; and access regulations that are trending, newly posted or closing soon.
- USA.govUSA.gov is an official, secure website of the United States government. USA.gov searches only federal, state, and local government websites for the public. Its search box works like other search engines, but only returns results from government web pages, most ending in .gov or .mil.
Databases
- Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
A finding tool for electronic and print publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
- Congressional Research Service Reports
Provides access to research papers written by the Library of Congress for the use of Congress containing objective, non-partisan analysis of public policy issues.
- Constitution Annotated
This resource, produced by the Congressional Research Service, provides analysis and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution with in-text annotations of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- ProQuest CongressionalProvides index and abstracts of congressional publications back to 1789, including full text of congressional hearings from 1824-present, full text Committee Prints from 1830-present, full text Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports from 1916-present, and legislative histories from 1969-present, as well as other free services that provide similar or related information such as Thomas (1993-to date) and GPO Access (1993-to date). Formerly LexisNexis Congressional
- ProQuest Legislative InsightProQuest Legislative Insight is a legislative history service offering full-text PDF versions of publications generated by the United States Congress during the legislative process from 1836 to the present. The publications include the full text of the Public Law, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, and prints. Also included are Presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications.
- US Congressional Documents LibraryFeatures the bound and daily versions of Congressional Record, its three predecessor titles, the American State Papers, the Journals of the Continental Congress and other important congressional material.
- US Congressional Serial SetThe U.S. Serial Set, a full-text collection of U.S. Government publications compiled under the directive of Congress, includes Congressional reports and documents, executive agency and departmental reports ordered to be printed by Congress, the American State Papers, and all maps, illustrations, photos, and lithographs found within the U.S. Serial Set from 1789-1969. Covering every aspect of American life from the early 19th century onward, from farming, to westward expansion, scientific exploration, politics, international relations, business, and manufacturing.
- US Declassified Documents OnlineThe Declassified Documents Reference System provides online access to over 500,000 pages of previously classified government documents. Covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond, this single source enables users to locate key information underpinning studies in international relations, American studies, United States foreign and domestic policy studies, journalism and more.
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