What is Democracy?:  This site is produced and maintained by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs.  In short, it is the federal government's official position on the concept of democracy, which it shares with the world via the internet.

National Constitution Center (NCC): The NCC was established by Congress through the Constitution Heritage Act of 1988, as an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding of the US Constitution. Here you will find links to the Constitution and other historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalist Papers.

Founding Fathers:  This page offers biographies of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention.  Take a look and decide for yourself if Charles Beard ("An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States") was right. 

Unfunded Mandates:  This is a 1998 General Accounting Office (GAO) report to Congress on attempts to curb the imposition of unfunded mandates by federal agencies on state and local governments (this is a PDF document).

The Heritage Foundation:  "Federalism Reform: Seven Options for Congress" by Heritage Foundation expert Adam D. Thierer, provides more ammunition to the "Fed up with the Feds" article in the text by Seay and Smith (also, formerly, of the Heritage Foundation).

Congress.org's Guide to State Elected Officials
 

NORC:  NORC is a national organization for research at the University of Chicago.  This organization is best known for its General Social Survey (GSS) and other national studies, many of which deal with American attitudes about politics and policy issues. 

National Election Studies (NES):  NES, housed within the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, conducts national surveys of the American electorate in presidential and midterm election years and carries out research and development work through pilot studies in odd-numbered years.  It is an excellent source of data on U.S. elections. 

The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA):  PIPA is a joint program of the Center on Policy Attitudes (COPA) and the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland  (CISSM), School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland.  The organization carries out research on public attitudes on international issues by conducting nationwide polls, focus groups and comprehensive reviews of polling conducted by other organizations. 

Campaigns and Elections (CE):  CE is one of the leading trade publications for political operatives.  Don't be discouraged if some of the material on the e-version of the magazine is password protected.  A good deal of this this publication's content is publicly accessible. 

Campaign Finance Reform:  This is a position paper published by opensecrets.org, a public interest group specializing in the role money plays in politics, today.

U. S. Electoral College:  This site is published by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register (OFR).  The OFR coordinates the functions of the Electoral College on behalf of the United States and the states.

2004 results: Cartograms

Congress.org's guide to the field of '04 presidential contenders

Green Party USA  • Libertarian Party • Reform Party  • Comprehensive index of political party web sites:  Here are some links to information on  third-parties on the American political scene. 

CongressLink:  Developed by The Dirksen Congressional Center, this nonprofit, nonpartisan organization connects the classroom to the halls of Congress and beyond.  Technology based curricular materials focus on history, politics, civics, and related subjects.

Congress.org

How a Bill Becomes a Law:  A lighter, humorous look at the process.

POTUS:  Presidents of the United States.  This is an excellent source of  background information, election results, information on cabinet members, notable events. This site also includes some points of interest on each of the presidents.

The struggle for power in an era of terrorism:  The War Powers Act of 1973 was designed to help regulate one of the most contentious areas of dispute between Congress and the president over recent decades: the president's use of military force to advance foreign policy objectives without full consultation and consent from Congress.  The Congress passed this law in hopes of reigning in what some were beginning to call "the imperial presidency."  The law has not always worked as well is its sponsors had hoped, however, and there are a number of provisions that can be invoked to weaken the law's bite.  Declaring a "national emergency" (which President Bush did on September 14, 2001) is one such way.  Since the 9-11 tragedy, President Bush has exercised extraordinary control over the armed forces, despite some misgivings of the legislative branch.  Here is a collection of links to the statutory powers and exceptions related to the president's prerogatives regarding the exercise of his Article II powers as Commander in Chief.

Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections: This site, put together by Dave Leip, provides a comprehensive look at U.S. Presidential elections from 1789 through 2000. 

Political ads through the years.

Bush approval ratings 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESOURCES: Civil Service.  This page, published and maintained by the University of Michigan Library Documents Center, is an excellent source of information for all manner of information related to the federal civil service. 

"Mandatory Student Fees Get Supreme Court Hearing":  This op/ed was published by Accuracy In Academia (AIA) in response to Southworth.  AIA is a nonprofit public service organization, based in Washington, D.C., which seeks the reassertion of traditional values in America's colleges and universities.

Commission on Online Child Protection (COPA):  This is a link to a congressionally appointed panel created by the federal Child Online Protection Act (1998). The primary purpose of the Commission is to "identify technological or other methods that will help reduce access by minors to material that is harmful to minors on the Internet." 

Attorney General's Commission on Pornography:  Here you can find excerpts from the 1986 Commission's Final Report titled: Suggestions for Citizen and Community Action and Corporate Responsibility.
 

Links and Resources:  This Washington Post site provides background material, news stories and editorials, links to court cases, and political statements on this issue. 

Affirmative Action Review Report to the President:  This review of federal affirmative action programs was written for President Clinton in 1995.  It reviews the kinds of Federal programs and initiatives that were then in place. It also reviews their effects -- benefits and costs, direct and indirect, intended and unintended -- both to the specified beneficiaries and to others. 

Women's Equity Resource Center

NCAA Title IX Gender Equity Resource Center

."Open To All" -- Title IX At Thirty:  This is final report of the The Secretary of Education's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics which was published in February of 2003. 

Roe v. Wade (1973): A pregnant single woman (pseudonym "Roe") brought a class action challenging the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, which outlawed abortion except in cases where the mother's life was in jeopardy.  The Court declared that the abortion statutes infringed on the plaintiffs' Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and ruled all such laws unconstitutional.

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania et al. v. Casey (1992):  At issue here were five provisions of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982 which required that a woman seeking an abortion (1) must be provided with certain information about options and alternatives, (2) must wait 24 hours before the abortion is performed, (3) must have the consent of at least one parent (if a minor), and (4) must inform her husband (if married).  The law also (5) stipulated certain reporting requirements on facilities providing abortion services. The Court struck down the husband notification requirement but upheld the other four provisions.