FOUNDATIONS OF DEMOCRACY

Historic Documents

• The Declaration of Independence
• The Constitution of the United States
• The Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10)
• Amendments 11-27
• The Federalist Papers (searchable by keyword)
• Washington's Farewell Address, 1796

Civil Liberties

• ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union
• John Birch Society
• Free Expression Clearninghouse: A Guide to Free Speech and the First Amendment
• The Freedom Forum
• Banned Books On-Line
• Engle v. Vitale (1962) (text of the landmark Supreme Court ruling)
• ACLU on the Death Penalty
• Pro-Death Penalty.com
• Roe v. Wade (1973) (text of the Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion)

Civil Rights

• Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
• Voices of the Civil Rights Era
• Library of Congress presentation titled "African American Odyssey"
• National Civil Rights Museum
• Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• United States Commission on Civil Rights
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
• NAACP Home Page
• Affirmative Action and Diversity Page
• Americans Against Discrimination and Preferences

OPINIONS, INTERESTS, AND ORGANIZATIONS

Public Opinion and Political Participation

• How to Register to Vote
• PollingReport.Com (An independent, nonpartisan resource on American public opinion, published in Washington, D.C.)
• The NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior 
• The Gallup Organization
• Public Agenda Online:  The Inside Source for Public Opinion and Public Policy
• Project Vote Smart
• League of Women Voters of the United States
• The Direct Democracy Center

Political Parties

• Federalist No. 10
• A History of American Political Parties
• National Political Parties Index
• Democratic Party
• Republican Party
• Libertarian Party
• Natural Law Party
• Green Parties of North America
• World's Smallest Political Quiz (find out your political identity!)

• 2004 Democratic Party Platform (in .PDF format)
• 2004 Republican Party Platform (in .PDF format)

Organized Interests

• National Political Index: Contacting Political Activist Groups
• American Farm Bureau
• National Organization for Women (NOW)
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
• AFL-CIO
• National Education Association (NEA)
• National Rifle Association (NRA)
• National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL)
• Greenpeace International Homepage
• American Bar Association
• American Medical Association

The News Media

• The New York Times on the Web (free, but registration is required)
• The Washington Post
• CNN
• The Online NewsHour (PBS)
• National Public Radio
• ABC News
• Slate
• C-SPAN
• Center for Media and Public Affairs

Campaigns and Elections

• An Elections Primer 
• A Campaign Finance Primer 
• Presidential Election History Since 1789
• America Votes: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia from Duke Special Collections
• Federal Election Commission (contains election statistics, as well as financial information about candidates, parties, and PACs)
• How the Electoral College works
• The U.S. Electoral College Calculator
• Open Secrets.org (your guide to money in U.S. elections)
• The :30 Second Candidate  (enter the world of political advertisements in this PBS site and trace the history of political ads)

INSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT

The Legislative Branch

• THOMAS: The U.S. Congress on the Internet
• The United States House of Representatives
• The United States Senate
• How a Bill Becomes A Law
• CongressLink (presented by the Dirksen Congressional Center, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization)
• Roll Call Home Page (includes articles and commentary about Congress)
• A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation (U.S. Congressional documents and debates, 1774-1873)

The Executive Branch

• The White House
• E-Mail the President
• The Presidents of the United States (presidential biographies provided by the White House)
• POTUS -- Presidents of the United States (Information about each of the U.S. presidents. Provides election results, a list of cabinet members, highlights of the presidency, “fast facts,” and annotated links)
• Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
• Presidential Addresses Online (includes State of the Union addresses)
• National First Ladies' Library

The Judicial Branch

• Federalist No. 78
• Marbury v. Madison (text of the landmark case)
• Supreme Court Hallmark Cases
• The Federal Judiciary Homepage
• The Oyez Project: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia Database
• Justices of the Supreme Court
• LII's Eye on the Courts (recent decisions from around the nation)
• FedWorld/FLITE Supreme Court Decisions Home Page

The Bureaucracy

• Executive Branch Agencies - The President's Cabinet
• Federal Agencies and Commissions
• FedWorld Information Network Home Page
• National Partnership For Reinventing Government (archived site)

POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY

Domestic Issues