Congressional Elections

Unit and lesson plans prepared by teachers using CongressLink resources and features.

Congressional Reapportionment/Redistricting
In this lesson, students will encounter some of the problems legislators face in accomplishing the goal of reapportionment. As a group, students will answer questions about reapportioning an imaginary state.

Finding Purpose in Political Propaganda Mailers
This lesson will help students learn how to critically analyze political propaganda mailers. They will understand how political mailers can be used to better inform themselves on a political issue or candidate. Students will use research to develop an informed opinion on a political issue or candidate and they will participate in the political process via letter writing.

Winning the Seat: A Congressional Election Simulation
Political scientist Jeffrey Bernstein created this simulation of a congressional election to provide students with a solid understanding of what determines who wins and who loses these contests.

Elect Me! Creating a Campaign Platform and Advertisement
Students will be a candidate for an election as a United States Representative or Senator in the upcoming election. They will need to decide with party fits their political views best, plan, and present a 3-5 minute campaign commercial about them as a candidate, their platform, and why the voters should vote for them.

Noncompetitive Elections for Congress
American democracy faces a crisis – the crisis of noncompetitive elections. More and more, American elections consist of incumbents cruising to victory. In this lesson, students will be able to explain why congressional elections are noncompetitive, analyze the pros and cons of electing incumbents to Congress, and analyze the need for congressional term limits.

What Makes a Great Campaign Brochure?
This lesson invites students to compare and contrast the campaign brochures of two candidates for the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1950 in order to (1) determine what elements make for an effective brochure (both content and design); (2) assess the relative effectiveness of the two examples; (3) understand what messages a campaign brochure intends to send; and (4) appreciate the similarities and differences between political campaigns of today and half a century ago.

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Congressional Timeline

For each Congress beginning with the 73rd (1933-35), this timeline features session dates, partisan composition, the presidential administration, a list of congressional leaders, and notable legislation passed...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

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

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

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

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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