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Contemporary Issues in American Politics and Governing

• How Christian Were the Founders?
• An Impassioned Debate: An Overview of the Death Penalty in America
• The State of the News Media, 2009 (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
• Stem Cell Research at the Crossroads of Religion and Politics
• Oregon's 'Death with Dignity' Law: 10 Years Later
• Hispanics and the Criminal Justice System: Low Confidence, High Exposure
• Policy Update: Americans Favor Carbon Cap, Gays in the Military and Renewing U.S.-Cuba Ties

Edwards Chapter 1: Introduction to Government

• AP Test-Taking Techniques
• The Hebrews and the Foundation of Western Law
• Plato and The Republic
• Aristotle - In Search Of The Best Constitution
• Meeting at Runnymede: The Story of King John and the Magna Carta
• Machiavelli and The Prince
• Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau on Government

Edwards Chapter 2: The Constitution

• The Mayflower Compact
• Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (text)
• Declaration of Independence (text)
• John Adams and the Boston Massacre Trials
• Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau on Government
• Declaration of Independence and Natural Rights
• A Comparison - the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
• Constitution of the Confederate States of America
• How Christian Were the Founders?
• The Federalist Papers (online only)
• An Independent Judiciary
• The Constitution (text)
• Amending the Constitution (graphic)
• The Citizen in de Tocqueville's America
• The Gettysburg Address: Overview and Analysis
• Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (text)

Edwards Chapter 3: Federalism

• American Federalism: Past and Future
• Federalism: National vs. State Government
• A History of Federalism
• The Imperial Roots of American Federalism
• Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer, 1952
• Federalism (graphic on Powerpoint slide)
• Our Federal System (Venn Diagram on Powerpoint slide)

Edwards Chapter 4: Civil Liberties

• The Bill of Rights: Landmark Supreme Court Cases
• History of the American Civil Liberties Union (Real Player video file)
• John Peter Zenger and Freedom of the Press
• Separating Church and State
• Overview: The Conflict Between Religion and Evolution - Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
• Religion and the Law - Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
• The Scopes Trial: Who Decides What Gets Taught in the Classroom?
• The Scopes Trial (from the Famous Trials Web site by Prof. Douglas Linder at UMKC)
• Should We Take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?
• Should Students Have the Right to Lead Prayers at Public School Events?
• Should Government Aid Students Attending Parochial Schools?
• Religious Rights in Conflict: Two Supreme Court Cases
• Young People and the Internet: Issues of Censorship and Free Expression
• The Death Penalty and Human Rights: Is the U.S Out of Step?
• Should Hate Speech Be Outlawed?
• FRONTLINE: Spying on the Home Front (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• Is a Fair Trial Possible in the Age of Mass Media?
• The Persecution of the Mormons
• Hamdi: Detaining U.S. Citizens as Enemy Combatants
• Wartime and the Bill of Rights - The Korematsu Case
• The Evacuation and Internment of San Francisco Japanese

Edwards Chapter 5: Civil Rights

• The Bill of Rights: Landmark Supreme Court Cases
• Should Homosexuals Have the Right to Laws Protecting Them From Discrimination?
• Resources on the Gay Marriage Debate - Weekly Update, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
• Indian Removal: The Cherokees, Jackson, and the “Trail of Tears”
• The Evacuation and Internment of San Francisco Japanese
• Race and Voting in the Segregated South
• One Man's Ambivalent Retreat From His Racist Past
• Hamdi: Detaining U.S. Citizens as Enemy Combatants
• The Presidents: The Democratic Party and Expanding Opportunity (Harvard University sociologist Orlando Patterson places Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign in the context of Democratic Party history - listen to the Podcast - 13:15)
• Aryan Outfitters: Meet the Ku Klux Klan's seamstress of hate couture (photographic essay)
• San Francisco Wasn't Always As Tolerant As It Is, Today
• Voter Caging: What it is, how it works to eliminate and suppress the vote of ethnic and racial minorities - and "Caging Democracy: A 50-year history of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters," a report on and analysis of voter caging by Republicans, today and a Voter Caging Map

Edwards Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action

• Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives (video, required viewing) - read the text of his talk here.
• Edmund Burke: Father of Conservatism (article begins on page 6)
• The Presidents: American Conservativism (Historian Dan Carter places John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign in the context of the American conservative movement - listen to the Podcast - 11:50)
• Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.
• Independents Take Center Stage in the Obama Era: Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2009
• Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History

Edwards Chapter 7: Mass Media and the Political Agenda

• Political Scandal, Scoundrels, and Schemers: Are the News Media Focusing on the Wrong Things?
• The Most Biased Name in News: Fox News Channel's extraordinary right-wing tilt
• In Politics, Leaking Stories Is a Fine Art
• FRONTLINE: News War (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• Media Is Changing, But Some Things Endure
• Commentary: The Big Hate

Edwards Chapter 8: Political Parties

• Who Voted in Early America?
• The Alien and Sedition Acts: Defining American Freedom
• Conspiracy Theories: Attacks on Jefferson Set the Pattern
• Win the Election of 1912 (play the game)
• The Southern Captivity of the GOP
• The Presidents: The Two-Party System and Political Participation (Harvard historian Thomas Patterson looks at political participation and America's two-party system in presidential elections - listen to the Podcast - 10:46)
• The Presidents: The Democratic Party and Expanding Opportunity (Harvard University sociologist Orlando Patterson places Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign in the context of Democratic Party history - listen to the Podcast - 13:15) For GOP, Issue of Gun Rights Still Holds Sway

Edwards Chapter 9: Nominations and Campaigns

• The United States and the Barbary Pirates
• So You Want to Buy a President? (online only - investigate, and learn)
• Win the Election of 1912 (play the game)
• The Presidents: Campaigning and the Primary System (Boston University historian Bruce Schulman, author of The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics, looks back at the 1976 presidential campaign and finds parallels to the 2008 campaign - listen to the Podcast - 20:11)
• The Presidents: The Conventions (NPR news analyst Daniel Schorr and American University historian Allan Lichtman discuss the role of the party conventions in 2008 - listen to the Podcast - 13:36)
• The Presidents: The Debates (George Mason University professor Rick Shenkman looks at presidential debates and their impact upon elections - listen to the Podcast - 10:38)
• The Art of Oratory

Edwards Chapter 10: Elections and Voting Behavior

• The Election of 1824-25: When the House of Representatives Chose the President
• Making It Easier to Vote vs. Guarding Against Election Fraud
• Madera Unified Case Is Changing Elections Throughout California
• TV Attack Ads and the Voter
• The Presidents: Critical Elections (Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin looks back at the 1968 presidential campaign and discusses the theory of "critical elections" - listen to the Podcast - 8:11)
• Win the Election of 1912 (play the game)
• The Presidents: The Economy (MIT historian Meg Jacobs examines the impact of economic issues during election years - listen to the Podcast - 10:12)
• The Presidents: Foreign Policy Leadership (International relations professor Ernest May from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and history professor Kristin Hoganson from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign describe foreign policy, presidential leadership, and elections - listen to the Podcast - 14:57)
• U.S. Presidential Elections: Vote 101 - click on "Vote 101" tab, click on the small photo of President Reagan, then find the links to these short videos: "Transfer of Power" - "Vote Tech" - "The Electoral College" - The Inauguration" - "Primaries, Caucuses and Conventions"
• U.S. Presidential Elections: Great Moments from the Campaign Trail - click on "Great Moments" tab, then find links to the short videos
• U.S. Presidential Elections: Famous Ads - click on "Famous Ads" tab, then "Campaign Spots," and find links to the campaign advertisements
• Five Justices and the Grand Commission: Deciding the 1876 Election (video)
• Hurdles to Voting Persisted in 2008

Edwards Chapter 11: Interest Groups

• Ken Janda's IDEAlog survey
• Kathi Carlisle Fountain's Directory of Political Advocacy Groups
• Today's Political Cartoons - Lobbying
• Records show White House health care talks: Lobbyists for health industry visited Obama's top aides, AP analysis shows
• Health bill revives abortion groups: Both sides are mobilizing supporters like they haven’t in years
• Are We Going to Let John Die?
• Lobbyists Pushed Off U.S. Advisory Panels: Washington Post: New White House Initiative to Curb Influence Could Affect Thousands
• The role of lobbyists
• Need For Campaign Cash Opens Door For Lobbyists
• 'So Damn Much Money': The Influence Of Lobbyists
• Tracking The Money In The Health Care Debate
• Rights Group Slams Obama on Land Mines
• Political group depicts Obama as Adolph Hitler
• Sam Graves and Cuba
• THE INFLUENCE GAME: New record for number of PACs

Edwards Chapter 12: Congress

• The Redistricting Game (interactive game)
• The U.S. House of Representatives (official Web site)
• The U.S. Senate (official Web site)
• BRIA - The Legislative Branch (three articles)
• The Constitution, Congress, and the Census - Representation and Reapportionment
• A Day in the Life of a Congressman
• Expected Shifts in Representation, 2000 to 2030 (graphic)
• How A Bill Becomes A Law (graphic)
• A Portrait of the 108th Congress (graphic)
• Committees in the 107th Congress
• A Comparison of House and Senate Procedures
• In Politics, Leaking Stories Is a Fine Art
• The Origins of Patent and Copyrights Law and Digital Piracy
• Typical Citizenship Examination Questions
• For 435 Lawmakers, 250 Groups to Align With

Edwards Chapter 13: The President

• From Washington to Obama - A Long Way (video)
• The White House (official Web site)
• Executive Office of the President
• President Polk and the Taking of the West
• The Election of 1824-25: When the House of Representatives Chose the President
• AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Presidents: FDR (watch the film)
• The Presidents: First Ladies (John Jay College historian Blanche Wiesen Cook looks back at Eleanor Roosevelt and discusses the role of the First Lady - listen to the Podcast - 8:57)
• Betty Ford: The Real Deal - "A pioneering first lady whose public battles with cancer and addiction changed the lives of millions." (video, photo slideshow, interviews)
• Harry Truman, Leader of the Freeway
• AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Presidents: Harry S Truman (watch the film)
• AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Presidents: Richard M. Nixon (watch the film)
• AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Presidents: Jimmy Carter (watch the film)
• AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Presidents: Ronald Reagan (watch the film)
• AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Presidents: George H.W. Bush (watch the film)
• FDR Tries to "Pack" the Supreme Court
• Justice after Bush: Prosecuting an outlaw administration
• The Imperial Presidency
• FRONTLINE: Cheney's Law (investigate, learn, watch the video)
• “The Mendacity Index: Which president told the biggest whoppers?”
• Untruth and Consequences - Presidential Lying
• The Qualities That Bear On Presidential Performance
• FRONTLINE: The Clinton Years (investigate, learn, watch the video)
• Presidential Vetoes, 1952-2003
• Presidential Line of Succession 2006
• Average Yearly Presidential Approval Ratings (graphic)
• The Silliest Speech in the Union
• Military Experience Doesn't Guarantee A Good President
• Recent Presidents - graphic
• Missouri Presidential Electoral Ballot 2000
• Assassination Attempts
• Do We Really Need A Vice President?
• In Politics, Leaking Stories Is a Fine Art
• Signs of Impeachment
• On Board Air Force One (explore, interactive tour)
• Presidential Trivia
• From Washington to Obama - A Long Way (video)
• C-SPAN Radio Special: Inside the White House (48 min. 3 sec. - December 23, 2008) Listen as historian & Author Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about Lincoln, FDR, LBJ, George H.W. Bush, Bill & Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush.
• Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency - Washington Post Special Report (Pulitzer Prize winner - includes text, photos, video)

Edwards Chapter 14: Congress, the President and the Budget

• What is the Budget?
• The Federal Budget Process
• Surpluses and Deficits in the Federal Budget, 1930-1995 (graphic)
• Should America Balance the Federal Budget?

Edwards Chapter 15: The Federal Bureaucracy

• A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies
• Our Government: Federal Agencies and Commissions (PDF)
• Official US Executive Branch Web Sites
• FedWorld
• The Federal Bureaucracy
• FRONTLINE: A Dangerous Business (investigate, learn, watch the video)

Edwards Chapter 16: The Federal Courts

• The United States Supreme Court (official Web site)
• Activism Is in the Eye of the Ideologist
• Structure of the Federal Courts (graphic)
• Dissenting opinions as a window on future rulings
• Why Marbury V. Madison Still Matters
• Impeachments of Federal Judges
• Supreme Court Inc.: How the nation’s highest court became increasingly receptive to the arguments of American business
• Supreme Court Nominations Not Confirmed, 1789-2007
• Supreme Court Nominations Not Confirmed (a list)
• The High Court: A User’s Guide
• US Supreme Court News at FindLaw
• The Damaged Institution of the Presidency, How the Obama Administration Intends to Restore It, And What We Can Expect from New OLC Head Dawn Johnsen
• Court will hear reverse discrimination case
• Court allows lawsuits over 'light' cigarettes
• High Court to Hear DNA Testing Case
• Why Marbury V. Madison Still Matters
• FDR and the Court-Packing Controversy (documentary video at the U.S. Supreme Court online)
• History of the United States Supreme Court
• Supreme Court Nomination Battles
• Four Enduring Myths About Supreme Court Nominees

U.S. Supreme Court Rulings, Criminal Law, and Legal Backgrounders

• A History of Key Abortion Rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court
• In Brief: Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, 2009
• The Social and Legal Dimensions of the Evolution Debate in the U.S.
• A Fluid Boundary: The Free Exercise Clause and the Legislative and Executive Branches
• On Ceremonial Occasions, May the Government Invoke a Deity?
• In Brief: Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, 2007
• The Constitutional Dimensions of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate
• Lethal Injection on Trial: An Analysis of the Arguments Before the Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees, 2008
• A Delicate Balance: The Free Exercise Clause and the Supreme Court
• Religious Displays and the Courts
• The High Court Upholds the Federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act
• Religion in the Public Schools
• Strange Bedfellows: Why Are Some Religious Groups Defending 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus'?
• The "Christmas Wars": Holiday Displays and the Federal Courts
• One Nation Under God? Pledge of Allegiance Case (Newdow case)

Edwards Chapter 17: Economic Policymaking

• The Rockefellers Corner the Market (play the game)
• The Presidents: The Economy (MIT historian Meg Jacobs examines the impact of economic issues during election years - listen to the Podcast - 10:12)
• The Global Financial Crisis in Photographs
• The Top Ten Financial Collapses
• A Look Back at Bush's Economic Missteps
• Hard Times Send 'Economoms' Back to the Job Market
• Outsourcing Jobs to Other Countries: Is Globalization a Threat to American Workers?
• FRONTLINE: The Secret History of the Credit Card (investigate, learn, watch the video)
• FRONTLINE: Is Wal-Mart Good for America? (investigate, learn, watch the video)
• FRONTLINE: The Farmer's Wife (investigate, learn, watch the video)
• FRONTLINE: Inside the Meltdown (investigate, learn, watch the video)
• The Long Legs of the Crash: 13 Unexpected Consequences of the Financial Crisis: Last year had more than its share of vertigo-inducing headlines: major banks suddenly disappearing, the Dow plunging day after day, and billion-dollar bailouts failing to make a dent in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression
• The End of Upward Mobility? American society is based on the idea that 'anyone' can reach the top. But the gap between rich and poor is growing, and the ladder seems to be disappearing.
• Wasting Away in Hooverville
• The New Hard Times: Tell Your Own Story - pick up your own video camera and record the memories and lessons from the generation that lived through the Great Depression (video)
• When the Government Writes the Checks, Where Does the Money Come From: Paul Solmon Explains Federal Plans to Fund the Economic Rescue (streaming video)

Edwards Chapter 18: Social Welfare Policymaking

• How Welfare Began in the United States
• Aging Population Poses Global Challenges
• Living life under a freeway overpass

Edwards Chapter 19: Health Care and Environment Policymaking

• National Security and the Threat of Climate Change
• Harry and Louise 1994 (Quick Time movie) and Text
• Medical Class Warfare
• Our Broken Health Care System
• Governors Oppose New Medicaid Rules
• FRONTLINE: Sick Around the World (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• FRONTLINE: The Last Abortion Clinic (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• The Future Is Drying Up
• FRONTLINE: Heat (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• FRONTLINE: Hot Politics (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• FRONTLINE: The Soldier's Heart (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (winner, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore - link to the group's "about" page)
• Environmental Law News at FindLaw
• The illusion of clean coal
• Green Headlines at the Washington Post: Science, Policy, Living (text, video)
• Voices on Green: Environmentalists sound off on their ideas for alternative energy and how to go green - a Washington Post Special Report (video)
• Study says uninsured are costly for all
• Two Dems Want to Scrap Employer Health Care
• Top 10 Odd Environmental Ideas
• GOP chair denies global warming
• Jack Bauer tackles global warming
• Alaskan lake’s fate could echo across continent
• Are we making too many Americans?
• House passes bill protecting 2 million acres of wilderness

Edwards Chapter 20: Foreign and Defense Policymaking

• The Marshall Plan for Rebuilding Europe, Different Visions for Vietnam, and U.S. Involvement in Nation-Building Before Iraq
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: U.S. and Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, 1959-2008
• The Rise of Islamist Terrorist Groups
• Fareek Zakaria: The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us? Newsweek, October 15, 2001
• Charlie Rose: A conversation with Fareed Zakaria (video)
• FRONTLINE: Extraordinary Rendition (investigate, learn, watch the film about the U.S. CIA's torture program in foreign countries)
• ACLU Fact Sheet: Extraordinary Rendition
• FRONTLINE: Showdown With Iran (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• The United Nations: Fifty Years of Keeping the Peace
• National Security and the Threat of Climate Change
• FRONTLINE: Bush's War (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• FRONTLINE: The Dark Side (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• Hamdi: Detaining U.S. Citizens as Enemy Combatants
• Is Torture Ever Justified?
• FRONTLINE: The Torture Question (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• FRONTLINE: Return of the Taliban (investigate, learn, watch the film)
• The Presidents: Foreign Policy Leadership (International relations professor Ernest May from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and history professor Kristin Hoganson from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign describe foreign policy, presidential leadership, and elections - listen to the Podcast - 14:57)
• Library of Congress Webcast: America Between the Wars (video)
• Library of Congress Webcast: Avoiding the Fate of the Mayans (video)
• What Would Happen if a 20 Megaton Nuclear Explosion on a City of 3 Million?
• How to stop the drug wars
• The Axis of Upheaval: Forget Iran, Iraq, and North Korea—Bush’s “Axis of Evil.” As economic calamity meets political and social turmoil, the world’s worst problems may come from countries like Somalia, Russia, and Mexico. And they’re just the beginning.
• The Most Dangerous Place in the World: Somalia is a state governed only by anarchy. A graveyard of foreign-policy failures, it has known just six months of peace in the past two decades. Now, as the country’s endless chaos threatens to engulf an entire region, the world again simply watches it burn.
• Think Again: Globalization: Forget the premature obituaries. To its critics, globalization is the cause of today’s financial collapse, growing inequality, unfair trade, and insecurity. To its boosters, it’s the solution to these problems. What’s not debatable is that it is here to stay.
• Mexico - State of War: Mexico’s hillbilly drug smugglers have morphed into a raging insurgency. Violence claimed more lives there last year alone than all the Americans killed in the war in Iraq. And there’s no end in sight.
• Forgotten Conflicts (interactive)
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Obama's test: Bringing order to the national security policy process
• Robert Baer on the Risks of Chatter: TIME columnist and former CIA field officer Robert Baer describes the risks in relying on chatter for accurate intelligence (video)
• Fareed Zakaria: Ending Our Imperial Foreign Policy: Compromise is not treason. Negotiation is not appeasement.
• Left of Boom: The Struggle to Defeat Roadside Bombs - A Special Report from The Washington Post (text, photos, video)
• The Challenge on the Ground in Afghanistan (Time magazine - click on the link to this video)
• Gates Budget Plan Reshapes Pentagon’s Priorities

Edwards Chapter 21: State and Local Government

• FRONTLINE: Justice for Sale (investigate, learn, watch the film)