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Note: a * after a website title means that website offers lesson plans.
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH AND GENERAL
ASSEMBLY WEBPAGES*
www.virginia.us
legis.state.va.us
The official portal for Virginia government information and services. Under "Government" find organization of the branches, state contacts, facts about the state ("about Virginia") and the Virginia Code along with links for finding and tracking legislation. For information about the legislature look at the General Assembly; this site also has good educational features under the "Capitol Classroom."
FIRSTGOV
www.firstgov.gov
Gateway
for all U.S. government services and information. Good for basic searches and
for locating specific departments, agencies or services. Select-a-topic,
GOOGLE UNCLESAM
www.google.com/unclesam
Narrows
down your Google search results to government (state and federal) sites only.
( .gov, .mil, .us)
THOMAS
thomas.loc.gov
Legislative resources from the Library of Congress: public laws, legislative history, congressional bills and bill summaries, roll call votes and more. This site offers the best searching for tracking legislation.
GPO ACCESS
www.gpoaccess.gov
The official portal to documents from all three branches of the U.S. government: Congressional Record, U.S. Code, Public Papers of the Presidents, etc. Search by branch, A-Z list or use GPO Resources by Topic. Also has Core Documents of U.S. Democracy under Federal-wide Resources.
PROJECT VOTE SMART (from VOTE SMART)
www.vote-smart.org
Information for voters: candidates' contact information, position on issues, voting records and ratings from special interest groups. Access "youngvoters.org" to get to "Government 101", information about the legislative and electoral processes, campaign finance rules, the federal budget etc.
OPEN SECRETS (from CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS)
www.opensecrets.org
Track campaign contribution information (donors and recipients); includes links for news and current issues, as well as information about campaign finance legislation.
NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE (from GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY)
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
Declassified
U.S. foreign policy documents, with background and critical commentary.
THE CREATION OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/charters_of_freedom/constitution/constitution_history.html
ELECTION RESULTS AND VOTER TURNOUT STATISTICS
www.fec.gov/elections.html
Note page on "How the Electoral
College Works".
CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES AND THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
(LESSON PLAN)*
www.edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=284
UNITED STATES LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE LINKS
usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/laws/laws.htm#proc
Includes links for state and international
government resources.
U.S. COURTS EDUCATION PAGE*
www.uscourts.gov/outreach
ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT
www.supremecourtus.gov/about/about.html
History, procedures, biographies for justices etc.
AVALON
PROJECT: HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS (from YALE UNIVERSITY)
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
Documents in law, history and diplomacy from all nations, from 122 B.C. to today.
OUR DOCUMENTS.GOV*
www.ourdocuments.gov
Great list of milestone documents of U.S. History, from the Constitution to the patent for the Cotton Gin: transcript, view of the original, brief explanation of the documents and links to related titles. The "Teacher's Toolbox" includes a workbook with lesson plans for using documents in the classroom.
SIRS CITIZENSHIP GUIDE *
www.finditva.com
This site has a number of great databases. For U.S. Government: 1. SIRS Government reporter - current and historic government documents, Supreme Court Decisions, and topic browsing for subject research. 2. SIRS Researcher - search for full-text news articles, detailed world maps, model UN topics. 3. SIRS Interactive Citizenship Guide - an interactive civics textbook, with links to web sites and primary sources. Note: you need a Virginia Public Library Card to use the SIRS databases.
AMERICAN MEMORY*
memory.loc.gov
The Library of Congress American History collection of photographs, posters, pamphlets oral histories and other items made available digitally. Search for text, images or sound files; search by keyword, subject or time period. The Learning Page has lesson plans and activities. Example: Historical Detective teaches students to understand primary sources and how to evaluate them, develop searching skills; they then use their findings in a writing project.
NATIONAL
ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION*
Online full
text documents, bibliographies of American History subjects, and education materials.
For research start in "Research Room". The "Digital Classroom"
has lesson plans and tips for teaching using primary sources; note the subject
collection on "Constitution Community". The Constitution, Declaration
of Independence etc. are linked from "Where is-How do I" at the top.
VIETNAM PROJECT (from TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY)
www.vietnam.ttu.edu
A center for
the study of all aspects of the American Vietnam experience. "The Vietnam
Archive" has general information and links to additional resources. "The
Virtual Archive" is a large collection of digitized documents; search by
subject, keyword, date, language or format. "Oral History Project"
has interviews with veterans available online in text and audio files, along
with general how-to's for oral history projects.
NATIONAL PARKS: LINKS TO THE PAST*
www.cr.nps.gov
History text, images, timelines
and links, along with education information. Subjects can be found under "Explore
America's Past" and "I'm Looking For...". "Teaching with
Historic Places" has over a hundred lesson plans, each tied to a National
Historic Site.
EDSITEMENT: HUMANITIES LESSON PLANS*
edsitement.neh.gov
The National
Endowment for the Arts provides lesson plans by subject: art and culture, literature/language
arts, foreign language, and history/social studies. Good feature: group resources
in each category by grade level. "Next Month's calendar": topics suggestions
by date.
SMITHSONIAN: HISTORY AND CULTURE *
www.si.edu/history_and_culture
A unique
resource that uses paintings, historical documents and diaries/letters to recreate
artist George Catlin's encounters with Native Americans in the 1830s. With lesson
plans.
STATE
DEPARTMENT: U.S. HISTORY RESOURCES
usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/history/toc.htm
Outline of U.S. History.
Timeline of U.S. Diplomatic History.
Foreign Relations of the United States Documents series. Online volume summaries are a good overview for historical research. Volumes not online can be found in our library.
WHITE HOUSE
www.whitehouse.gov/history/life
Biographical information on current and past presidents; links to presidential libraries for further research.
U.S. HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS CHRONOLOGY ( from
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA COLLEGE OF LAW)
www.law.ou.edu/hist
HISTORICAL CENSUS DATA 1790-1970 ( from UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
LIBRARY)
fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/
Population and economy of U.S. states and counties.
This page last updated on: April 29, 2004