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CongressLink

About CongressLink

Today's Congress

Congress: The Basics

     Congress: The Context
     Congress: The Institution





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     Congress: Lawmaking
     Congress: The Leaders
     Congress: The Members

Congress: Teaching It

     Lesson Plans on CongressLink
  • Unit and lesson plans prepared by teachers using CongressLink resources and features. This section also includes simulations. The plans are organized by subject:


  • For links to other Web sites containing lesson plans for Congress see Related Lessons.
     Lesson Plans on the Web
  • In addition to the lesson plans posted on this site, the Web hosts scores of other lessons about Congress. This section of CongressLink highlights the best and provides links to them. If you know of a lesson that we should include, please send an e-mail to Frank Mackaman at fmackaman@dirksencenter.org

  • Links to individual lessons about Congress


  • Links to portal sites directing you to lessons about Congress
     WebQuests
  • "...A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet..."
    {Bernie Dodge, 1995]
     Web Sites about Congress
  • What follows are some of the best Web sites about Congress. For links to hundreds of other sites about our nation's legislature and the federal government, please visit AboutGovernment using the link in “Explore the Websuite” below.


  • This site offers a wealth of information about Congress, including the following subparts:
     Online Textbooks
  • As publishers begin to post textbooks about Congress on the Internet, we will proivde links to them here.
     Expert Views
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Explore The Websuite

  •   The Dirksen Congressional Center Gateway
    • The Dirksen Congressional Center Gateway
      A point of entry to The Dirksen Center's suite of Web sites.



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  •   The Dirksen Center
    • The Dirksen Center
      Helping People Better Understand the U.S. Congress, its people, its processes, and the public policies it produces.


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  •   Robert H. Michel: U.S. Congressman
    • Robert H. Michel: U.S. Congressman
      Robert Henry "Bob" Michel - An American Republican Party politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives for 38 years

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  •   AboutGovernment
    • AboutGovernment
      Links to more than 50 sites about the U.S. Congress, four major search engines, and to a handful of sites about the federal government more generally.


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  •   Congress for Kids
    • Congress for Kids
      Gives students access to interactive, fun-filled experiences designed to help them learn about the foundation of our federal government and how its actions affect you.


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  •   Communicator
    • Communicator
      A monthly e-newsletter to stay current about changes to the other Dirksen Center sites, to learn about classroom uses of the information posted on them, and to hear about Dirksen Center news.


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Congressional Timeline

Congressional Timeline

The Congressional Timeline developed and maintained by The Dirksen Congressional Center, arrays more than 550 of the nation's laws on a timeline beginning in 1933 and continuing to the present. A second timeline "band" depicts major political events of the period as a way to provide context for Congress's law-making...More



73rd Congress: March 9, 1933 - June 18, 1934

73rd Congress: March 9, 1933, to June 18, 1934

A meeting of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. The first session of Congress, known as the "Hundred Days," took place before the regular seating and was called by President Roosevelt specifically to pass two acts. March 9, 1933, The Emergency Banking Act...More



74th Congress: January 3, 1935 - June 20, 1936

74th Congress: January 3, 1935 - June 20, 1936

The Soil and Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to conserve soil, prevent erosion, and accomplish other minor goals. It was a piece of legislation passed in response to the Supreme Court's declaration....More



75th Congress: January 5, 1937 - June 16, 1938

75th Congress: January 5, 1937 - June 16, 1938

In 1938 the Civil Aeronautics Act transferred federal responsibilities for non-military aviation from the Bureau of Air Commerce to a new, independent agency, the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The legislation also gave the authority the power to regulate airline fares and to determine...More



76th Congress: January 3, 1939 - January 3, 1941

76th Congress: January 3, 1939 - January 3, 1941

On November 4, 1939, the Neutrality Act of 1939 was passed, allowing for arms trade with belligerent nations on a cash and carry basis, thus in effect ending the arms embargo. ...More



77th Congress: January 3, 1941, to December 16, 1942

77th Congress: January 3, 1941, to December 16, 1942

The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of the European war in September 1939, but six months before the U.S. entrance into the war in December 1941. It was called An Act Further to Promote the Defense of the United States...More



 









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Dirksen Center Special Projects

Dirksen Center Special Projects is a series of multi-media projects rich in Web-based resources on a variety of topics from civil rights to editorial cartoons. We have posted them where it makes sense within our Web suite. But as the suite has grown, we suspect it has become more difficult to find these special projects.

To make them stand out, we have created the Dirksen Center Special Projects web page to host links to all our special projects listed below.