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Elections

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When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property. ~ Thomas Jefferson

There is nothing so deep and nothing so shallow which political enmity will not turn to account. ~ John Quincy Adams

Our differences are politics, our agreements principles.
~ William McKinley

The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men.
~ James Buchanan
online resources
Especially for Teachers...

American Memory Timeline: The Presidential Election of 1960 - (Feature) View images and documents related to this historic election.

American Memory Timeline: Women's Suffrage in the Progressive Era - (Feature) Examine documents related to the topic of voting rights for women.

Federal Election System - (Internet Resources) This online database links to campaign finance reports and elections and voting data, including information about the electoral college, voter registration and turnout statistics.

First Ladies of the United States: Selected Images From the Collections of the Library of Congress - (Prints and Photographs) Links to images selected from the Prints and Photographs collections.

Guide to the Law Online: Election Law - (Internet Resources) This annotated guide includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information regarding election law.

Herblock’s History: Political Cartoons From the Crash to the Millenium - (Exhibition) The Presidents section of this exhibition features caricatures of American presidents from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton.

Humor’s Edge: Cartoons by Anne Telnaes - (Exhibition) Cartoons in the Pulitzer Prize Winning Cartoons section of this exhibit relate to the 2000 election.

LC Web Archives: United States Election 2000 Web Archive - (Web Archive) This selective collection of nearly 800 sites archived daily between August 1, 2000 and January 21, 2001, covers the United States national election period.

LC Web Archives: United States Election 2002 Web Archive - (Web Archive) This selective collection of nearly 4,000 sites archived between July 1, 2002 and November 30, 2002 covers 2002 elections.

Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004 - (Internet Resource) This online exhibition features more than 250 television commercials from election years 1952-2004.

Oliphant’s Anthem: Presidential Campaigns - (Exhibition) This online exhibition includes a variety of Pat Oliphant’s editorial cartoons related to presidential campaigns.

Popular Graphic Arts: Presidential Elections - (Prints and Photographs) View a selection of 19th and early 20th century election related broadsides and prints.

Presidential Campaigns - (Prints and Photographs) View a selection of images depicting presidential campaigns from the online version of Pictorial Americana.

Presidential Elections and the Electoral College: the Proceedings of the Electoral Commission of 1877 - (Special Presentation) This presentation highlights volume 5, part 4 of the Congressional Record which began publication in 1873

Presidents of the United States: Selected Images From the Collections of the Library of Congress - (Prints and Photographs) Quick links to photographs of United States presidents.

Primary Source Investigation - (Document) Use this primary source investigation strategy as a way for students to examine documents and think critically about their meaning. Themes include Civil War, reform movements, Harlem Renaissance and presidential campaigns.

Research Guide to Election Resources - (Library of Congress Bibliography) Prepared by the Law Library of Congress, this extensive guide includes both print and web resources related to elections.

Thomas - (Legislative Resource) Thomas provides links to legislative information. Search bill text using the term "elections" to locate election related legislation.

Time Line of Presidents and First Ladies - (Special Presentation) Each president and first lady is listed chronologically according to the president’s term(s) of office and links to images of all presidents and most first ladies from 1789 through 2001.

Voting and Registration - (Internet Resources) This online database contains information on reported voting and registration by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for the United States.


  Especially for your Students...

American Political Parties Past - (Learning Page Activity) Match political parties with their platforms.

American Treasures: Dewey Defeats Truman - (Exhibition) This newspaper headline declares the wrong winner of the 1948 election.

American Treasures: Lincoln for President - (Exhibition) View campaign material from the 1860 presidential election.

American Treasures: The Gerrymander - (Exhibition) In 1812, Jeffersonian Republicans forced through the Massachusetts legislature a bill rearranging district lines to assure them an advantage in the upcoming senatorial elections. This cartoon-map first appeared in the Boston Gazette for March 26, 1812.

American Treasures: The Likeness of George Washington - (Exhibition) Following the 1788 election, Amos Doolittle created this engraving. It is one of the earliest presidential prints.

Elections - the American Way - (Feature) Explore the history of the election process through primary source materials.

For and Against - (Learning Page Activity) This sampling of jokes from a 1914 vaudeville act takes potshots at the ideologies and behavior of political parties from our nation’s past.

I Spy - Gray's Ferry - (Learning Page Activity) Explore this illustration of Gray’s Ferry, Pennsylvania, depicting the town as it prepared for George Washington’s 1789 inaugural reception.

I Spy - Lincoln's Inauguration - (Learning Page Activity) Explore this photograph taken at Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1865.

Inaugurations…From George W. to George W. - (Feature) Observe the pageantry of presidential inaugurations through primary source images and written accounts.

Jump Back in Time: April 4, 1873 - (America’s Library) Carrie Burnham argued for the right to vote.

Jump Back in Time: January 23, 1964 - (America’s Library) The 24th Amendment ended the poll tax.

Jump Back in Time: June 4, 1919 - (America’s Library) The Nineteenth Amendment granting women's suffrage was sent to the states.

Jump Back in Time: November 4, 1845 - (America’s Library) Americans observed the first uniform election day.

Jump Back in Time: October 21, 1960 - (America’s Library) Read about the great debates of Nixon and Kennedy.

On the Campaign Trail - (Wise Guide) View a sampling of past presidential campaign materials available on the Library’s Web site.

Today in History (February 17, 1801) Jefferson Victorious - (Today in History) Presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson won support of a majority of congressional Representatives displacing incumbent John Adams.

Today in History (January 23, 1964) Poll Taxes Prohibited - (Today in History) The collection of poll taxes in national elections was prohibited by the January 23, 1964 ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

Today in History (March 4, 1861) Abraham Lincoln's First Inauguration - (Today in History) Lincoln was sworn in as the sixteenth president of the United States.

Today in History (March 8, 1884) Susan B. Anthony and Congress - (Today in History) Susan B. Anthony addressed the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives and argued for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote.

Today in History (November 4, 1884) Election Day - (Today in History) - Democrat Grover Cleveland defeated Republican James G. Blaine after a bitter campaign. The outcome of the presidential race was determined by the electoral vote of New York, which Cleveland won by just 1,047 votes.

Today in History (November 5, 1844) The Napoleon of the Stump - (Today in History) Democratic candidate James K. Polk defeated Whig Party candidate Henry Clay to become the eleventh president of the United States.

Today in History (October 21, 1960) The Kennedy-Nixon Debates: The Final Round - (Today in History) American viewers watched the broadcast of the fourth and final debate between Vice President Richard M. Nixon, the Republican presidential candidate, and Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate.

Today in History (October 4, 1822) Rutherford B. Hayes - (Today in History) Rutherford B. Hayes, born on this date, became the nineteenth U.S. president in 1877 after a contested election that pitted him against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden of New York.

Who Really Elects the President? - (Wise Guide) Learn more about the Electoral College.

Who's That Lady? - (Learning Page Activity) Use the American Memory collections and other resources to meet the challenge of the Turn-of-the-Century First Ladies' Bowl.


lesson plans

Use these lesson plans (created by educators for educators) to explore topics about science and invention with your students in your classroom:

Voices for Votes: Suffrage Strategies - (Grades 4-6) Students create original documents encouraging citizens to vote in current elections. This lesson is devoted entirely to the issue of women’s suffrage, both historically and in today’s society.

Women, Their Rights, and Nothing Else - (Grades 9-12) Students create timelines and papers that explore the long route women traveled to receive the right to vote.

Suffragists and Their Tactics - (Grades 9-12,) Students use primary sources to explore strategies and challenges of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States.


bibliography

Is there a title (or two) that you always read to (or with) your students when teaching about this theme? Are there invaluable reference books that you use? Staff from The Library of Congress have begun a collection of titles for the "Elections " theme. We hope you will contribute your favorites to our growing bibliography!

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collection connections

Create your own collaborative lesson plans using material related to this month's theme assembled from The Learning Page Collection Connections:

American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election - (Summary and Teaching Resources) This collection includes fifty-nine sound recordings of speeches by American leaders at the turn of the century - many of which relate to elections.

By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present - (Summary and Teaching Resources)

I Do Solemnly Swear...: Presidential Inaugurations - (Summary and Teaching Resources) This collection includes documents and digital files covering inaugurations from George Washington

Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873, A - (Summary and Teaching Resources) A wide variety of materials on presidential elections and the electoral college may be found in this collection using search terms like electoral votes, president elect and contested election.

search terms

These terms may be useful when searching for items related to this theme in the American Memory collections.

Ballot Elections Presidential elections
Ballot box Inaugural address Presidents
Campaign literature Inaugurations Suffrage
Campaign songs Names of political parties Voters
Campaign speeches Names of presidents Voting machine
Candidate for president Platform Women’s suffrage
Electoral college Political conventions  
Election districts Polling place  
Election law Presidential campaigns  
Election officials Presidential candidates  

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Last updated 9/17/2004