Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives

The Cathedral of Saint Patrick is a cathedral of the Catholic Church in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the mother church of the Diocese of Harrisburg and is the seat of its bishop. It is a contributing property in the Harrisburg Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Pennsylvania State Capitol sculpture groups are a pair of larger-than-life, multi-figure groups by American sculptor George Grey Barnard, that flank the west entrance to the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Barnard was commissioned to create the sculptures in 1902, and modeled them in clay and plaster over several years in France. Piccirilli Brothers carved them in white Carrara marble in New York City, and installed the finished sculptures at the Capitol in 1911.The south group is titled The Burden of Life: The Broken Law, and is overseen by a heroic size bas relief of Adam and Eve. It portrays life struggles and negative emotions – widowhood, toil, grief, despair – but with the possibility of consolation and hope. The north group is titled Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law, and is overseen by a heroic size bas relief of a prosperous farmer and his wife. It portrays life accomplishments and positive emotions – familial love, education, parenthood, religion – and the promise of the future generation.

The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the seats are contested at each election. Even numbered seats and odd numbered seats are contested in separate election years. The president pro tempore of the Senate becomes the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in the event of the sitting lieutenant governor's removal, resignation or death. In this case the president pro tempore and lieutenant governor would be the same person. The Pennsylvania Senate has been meeting since 1791. The president of the Senate is the lieutenant governor, who has no vote except to break a tie vote.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made official in 1722 upon its reorganization as an entity separate from the control of the royal governor. Today, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania maintains a discretionary docket, meaning that the Court may choose which cases it accepts, with the exception of mandatory death penalty appeals, and certain appeals from the original jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Court. This discretion allows the Court to wield powerful influence on the formation and interpretation of Pennsylvania law.

The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania located in downtown Harrisburg which was designed by architect Joseph Miller Huston in 1902 and completed in 1906 in a Beaux-Arts style with decorative Renaissance themes throughout. The capitol houses the legislative chambers for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Harrisburg chambers for the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor. It is also the main building of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex. The seat of government for the state was initially in Philadelphia, then was relocated to Lancaster in 1799 and finally to Harrisburg in 1812. The current capitol, known as the Huston Capitol, is the third state capitol building built in Harrisburg. The first, the Hills Capitol, was destroyed in 1897 by a fire. The second, the Cobb Capitol, was left unfinished when funding was discontinued in 1899. President Theodore Roosevelt attended the building's dedication in 1906. After its completion, the capitol project was the subject of a graft scandal. The construction and subsequent furnishing cost three times more than the General Assembly had appropriated for the design and construction; architect Joseph Huston and four others were convicted of graft for price gouging. The Pennsylvania State Capitol is often referred to as a "palace of art" because of its many sculptures, murals, and stained-glass windows, most of which are Pennsylvania-themed or Pennsylvanian-made. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006; the boundaries of the designation were expanded to include the Capitol Complex in 2013 with the capitol as a contributing property.

Commonwealth is a 14-foot-6-inch (4.42 m) gilded statue atop the dome of the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is nicknamed Miss Penn and the Spirit of the Commonwealth. It is also sometimes called Letitia, after the daughter of William Penn, the assumed inspiration for the statue.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts.It is the largest full-time state legislature in the country. The New Hampshire House of Representatives is larger but only serves part-time.

The Buckshot War was the outbreak of unrest in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that transpired after the Pennsylvania gubernatorial and legislative elections in 1838 when both the Whig and Democratic parties claimed control over the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

The Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania is one of the dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It was founded in 1905 as the Diocese of Harrisburg, separating from the original Diocese of Central Pennsylvania now known as the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem.The seat of the bishop and home of the diocesan offices is St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral at 221 North Front Street in Downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The State Museum of Pennsylvania is a non-profit museum at 300 North Street in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is run by the state through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and was created to preserve and interpret the region's history and culture. It is a part of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex. While it is officially named the State Museum of Pennsylvania, members of the public, as well as official publications, sometimes refer to the facility as the William Penn Memorial Museum; the museum's central hall features a large statue of Penn.

St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church in the United States. It is the mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and is the seat of its bishop. The Cathedral, Cathedral House and Chapter House are located on Front Street in Downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River. St. Stephen's School is just around the corner on Cranberry Street. The nave of the church was constructed in 1826 and can seat about 300 people. St. Stephen's became the diocesan cathedral on January 27, 1932. The church is a contributing property in the Harrisburg Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

William R. Griffith House, also known as Cathedral House and Cathedral House of St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral, is a historic home located at Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It was built between 1840 and 1843, and is a three-story, three-bay wide brick dwelling in the Greek Revival style. The front block measures 28 feet by 40 feet, with a narrower rear block measuring 15 feet by 50 feet. It features a front portico with freestanding Ionic order columns.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.