The Cato Institute is a think tank based on "limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace." It's Web site is highlighted by the full text of many of its Briefing Papers, all of its Foreign Policy Briefing Series, over 100 of its Policy Analysis Series, all of its Social Security Privatization Series, and articles from its semi-monthly Cato Policy Reports (under Publications and...

Designed by Lansing, Michigan area K-12 teachers and faculty at Michigan State University, this handsome and well-organized site is a fine resource for K-12 teachers and students. At the site, users can search for and retrieve a variety of digitized primary sources related to American government and democracy, such as treaties, court decisions, inaugural addresses, maps, paintings, and photos....

From Teddy Roosevelt to "We Like Ike," the Cornell University Political Americana Collection offers up a cornucopia of presidential promotional and commemorative items dating from 1789 to 1980. All told, there are approximately 5,500 items here, including cartoons, prints, posters, lapel buttons, and leaflets. The majority of this prodigious collection was donated to Cornell by the private...

As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once opined, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.” True indeed, and certainly a sentiment that motivates the staff at FactCheck.org, a project sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The project is designed to monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by numerous politicos in...

Is the United States government in the business of making films? As it turns out, the answer is a hearty "Yes". As part of a joint venture between the National Technical Information Service and Public.Resource.Org, the Internet Archive has created this excellent archive of government training films from the past six decades. As with other Internet Archive thematic collections, visitors will find a...

"From Revolution to Reconstruction, and What Happened Afterwards" is an ongoing hypertext history of the United States. The backbone of the document is a U.S. Information Agency document called "An Outline of American History." The site is divided into eight chapters covering the colonial period to the Bush administration. Hypertext links are made to literally hundreds of full text documents...

In January 2010, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) began to reach out to a new audience by offering podcasts. The podcast program is called the "Watchdog Report" and its focus is on "interviews with GAO officials on significant issues and new products." The hosts of the program are GAO staff members, and recent programs have included reports on the disclosure of airline service fees,...

Since its first review in the Scout Report almost ten years ago, the Government Innovators Network has grown exponentially, and remains a delightful example of the power of well-organized web portals. Produced by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, this website is a “marketplace of ideas and examples of government innovation.”...

Herb Block (also known as "Herblock") was one of the most influential political commentators and editorial cartoonists in American history. His work began to appear in 1929, and he continued creating social commentary for 72 years. The Library of Congress website digitized some of the 14,000 images that the Herb Block Foundation donated in 2002. Visitors interested in seeing the wide range of...

On April 19, 2001, GPO Access placed online the full text of Hinds' Precedents of the House of Representatives of the United States. Originally published by the GPO in 1907, Hinds' Precedents is useful as both an historical document and for its insights into parliamentary procedure and precedents in the House. The full text may be browsed by volume and chapter and viewed in text or .pdf format.