Read about the subdued campaign and election of 1888 where the Republicans took control of the presidency, House of Represenatives, and Senate. Find out how Benjamin Harrison was selected as the Republican presidential candidate.

Find an image of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964. Read a brief description of how this life-changing legislation came to be.

Read about Minnie Fisher Cunningham, a suffragette who became president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association in 1915 and who ran for the Texas Senate.

Featured are excerpts from the speech by Senator John F. Kennedy, Valley Forge Country Club, Valley Forge, PA given on October 29, 1960 during his campaign for the Presidency.

This resource from Khan Academy provides advanced-level practice questions over the checks on the US President. These questions are intended for students taking high school or college level American Government and Civics courses,...

This resource from Khan Academy provides foundational-level practice questions over the checks on the US President. These questions are intended for students taking high school or college level American Government and Civics courses,...

Find the acceptance speech of John F. Kennedy as he accepted the nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate in 1960. In it he gives his vision of a New Frontier.

Senator Charles Sumner gives his opinion on the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868.

This site is a photojournalist's look at the Nixon years from 1970-1974. Text accompanies the photographs of some of the most extraordinary events of the 20th century.

Read about the origins and impact of the McCarran Internal Security Act which President Harry Truman called "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press and assembly, since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798." Find out how a fear of...

Read about the campaign and election of 1960 in which the Democratic candidate, Senator John F. Kennedy, ran against the Repbulican candidate, Vice-President Richard M. Nixon. Find out about the issues, the famous debates, and Kennedy's...

The National Archives and Records Administration highlights the Sioux Treaty of 1868. The lesson provided here relates to the power granted to the president and the Senate in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, of the U.S. Constitution, the...

Our Documents is home to one hundred milestone documents that influenced that course of American history and American democracy. Includes full-page scans of each document, transcriptions, background information on their significance, and...

Short, but comprehensive, synopsis of Clinton's two terms as president. Included in the article is the 1992 campaign, successful and controversial legislation, and the scandals that would eventually become part of his presidential legacy.

A lesson that involves young scholars in explaining the confirmation process of presidential appointees by testing the system of checks and balances and the separation of powers. The lesson also requires students to simulate the...

Here is a terrific lesson plan that involves all students in examining the reasons Senators had for and against civil service reform following the assassination President Garfield. All the source materials are available for the lesson as...

In this collection from the University of Virginia you can read miscellaneous kinds of correspondence by Jefferson, including letters about American Indian issues and annual addresses to the House and Senate.

Panoramic views and historical information about the U.S. Capitol building. It's like you're really there! Requires frames-enabled browser, 16" monitor at 800 x 600 resolution.

This year's federal elections will involve electing a president, all members of the House of Representatives, and one-third of the Senate. Barring some international crisis, economic issues appear likely to dominate the debates. In past...

This site is a comprehensive overview of the Watergate break-in and investigation that would eventually result in Nixon's resignation.

The Congress passed and President Bush signed this tax cut bill, titled "Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001." It caused a great deal of controversy. Learn about this law and read the debate that took place in the...

This site gives a biography of William Rehnquist, one of the Supreme Court Chief Justices observing the U.S. Senate trial of President Clinton.

Although brief, this article explains the McCarran Act and how it intertwined with the House Un-American Activities Committee in its anti-Communist hysteria.

This biography of James A. Garfield covers his participation in the Civil War, terms in the House of Representatives, and tumultous time in the presidency, serving only four months before he was shot by a would-be assassin.