The 14th Amendment (1868) guaranteed citizenship and due process and equal protection under the law to anyone born or naturalized in the United States (except certain indigenous Americans).
A strongly worded informational poster that spreads criticisms of people or policies impacting a group or community, usually displayed on single large sheets of paper, one side only, and designed to have an immediate emotional impact on readers.
From the French word “civique,” meaning citizen, the study of what people need to know and do (their rights, roles, and responsibilities) as members of a democratic society.
A document that sets forth the basic principles of a nation or state, the structures and processes of government and the fundamental rights of citizens; the "law of the land."
Knowledge, skills, and competencies to access and analyze the content of multiple media (print and digital) while also analyzing who produces media, why they do so, and what impacts that media has on people and society.
Government of the people, by the people and for the people.
Democratic Government
System of government where people chose their leaders through free and open elections.
Democratic schools
Educational organizations where teachers, students, administrators and community members make decisions openly and collectively.
Digital Choice Board
An online visual display that gives students multiple ways to learn about a topic featuring hyperlinks to digital resources and tools as well as higher order, creative learning activities.
Digital government
Widespread use of technology for government functions.
eBook
An abbreviation for electronic books; refers to material that is delivered digitally to readers using laptops, smartphones, or other mobile devices.
System used in U.S. Presidential elections where people vote for a slate of electors who represent a candidate; the candidate receiving 270 or more electoral votes wins the Presidency.
An organization where the workers, not outside shareholders, own all or most of the business and make decisions about its operation; also known as worker owned business.
Policy that allows a President and his close advisors to refuse to turn over to Congress or the court documents and discussions they had about national and international policies.
Federalism
A system of government in the United States (and most other democracies) that divides and shares power between a national (or federal) government and the various states in the country.
A election system that allows voters to vote for candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets a majority of votes, the one with the fewest votes is eliminated and those who ranked that candidate first have their votes transferred to the second preference and so on until one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote.
Journalism format where the lead, or main points of a news article—the who, what, when, where, why and how of a story—are placed at the top or beginning followed by additional and less important, but still relevant information.
The part of a government that decides the meaning of laws and administers justice through trials and other court proceedings. The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review of court decisions.
The part of a government that makes or changes laws. The U.S. Congress has also the power to declare war, regulate interstate commerce and control taxing and spending.
One of the types of cases decided by the Supreme Court, usually unsigned with one or two sentence opinions and without public access to the arguments or which justices voted one way or the other.
States that consistently award their electoral votes to either the Democratic (e.g., Massachusetts, California, New York) or the Republican (e.g., Texas, Oklahoma, Montana) candidate in Presidential elections.
The people (reporters, photographers, commentators, editorial writers and behind-the-scenes workers) and media organizations (online and in print) that bring us the news.