Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Federalism in the United States and Great Britain
Federalism in the United States is structured differently from the government of Great Britain.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Limits to Congressional Power: Specific and Generalized Power
Outlines the limits on the powers that are granted to Congress by the Constitution.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Limits to Congressional Power
Lists the ways that the powers of Congress are limited.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress
Congress has four main categories of power, described in this podcast.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Bill of Rights: Part 1
A description of the Bill of Rights, which had ten amendments in its original form.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Bill of Rights: Part 2
Explains how the Bill of Rights came to be, and how the Supreme Court was able to extend its application through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Implied Powers: Part 1
Implied powers of Congress are implicitly suggested by powers that are overtly expressed in the Constitution, as described in the examples in this podcast.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Implied Powers: Part 2
Describes the implied powers of Congress that allow it to create administrative agencies to make rules and execute laws.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Implied Powers: Part 3
Congressional oversight is one of the most important implied powers of Congress. This power allows Congress to monitor administrative agencies it has created.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Enforcement Powers: Part 1
Various amendments to the Constitution have given Congress increasing powers to enforce the provisions in the amendments.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Enforcement Powers: Part 2
Congress has been instrumental in enforcing civil rights laws and in shifting enforcement powers away from state governments and onto the federal government.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Enforcement Powers: Part 3
The investigative powers of Congress are inherent powers that compel people to share information and make enforcement of legislation possible.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress and the States: Part 1
Explains the rules around the election of members to the House of Congress, and how long they may serve.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress and the States: Part 2
Discusses how the lines for Congressional districts are determined and what happens if this is challenged.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 1
Explains how Congressional districts are determined to ensure equality of representation.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 2
Gerrymandering is still a problem in determining Congressional district lines, even with redrawing them after each ten-year census.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 3
Discusses how Senators are chosen by each state.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 4
Congress has over five hundred members and each one represents a large number of constituents, making the job of an elected official very challenging.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 5
Compares the number of constituents and elected officials in other countries to those in the United States Congress.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Trustee vs. Delegate Theories of Representation
The anti-federalists supported the delegate theory of political representation, whereas the federalists believed in the trustee theory.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: The Challenges of Representation
The diversity of America's population today makes it increasingly difficult for politicians to represent the needs of all their constituents and to reach mutually agreeable decisions on issues.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Grants in Aid: Education Policy
Today we discuss federal grants-in-aid and and the impact of these on state education policy.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress: Serving Constituents Part 1
Members of Congress work hard to meet the needs of their constituents through newsletters, meetings, and other methods.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress: Serving Constituents Part 2
Constituents request many different things of their elected representatives, some of which are described here.