AP Government: Web Sources

Text of the U.S. Constitution and Amendments. Includes explanations from the Congressional Research Service.

Provides a legal analysis and interpretation of the United States Constitution based on a comprehensive review of Supreme Court case law and, where relevant, historical practices that have defined the text of the Constitution.

Links to historical materials and images of the actual U.S. Constitution from the National Archives.

A collection of documents about American constitutional history compiled by constitutional scholars Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner.

Web-friendly version of The Federalist Papers at Congress.gov.

Links to historical material and images of the actual Declaration of Independence from the National Archives.

Includes a comprehensive collection of Martin Luther King Jr's most significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpublished manuscripts.

Multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work

List of historic Supreme Court decisions arranged by topic.

Browse the collection of full-text opinions from 1791 to present.

Season 1 and 2 with videos and text.

Opinions, case documents, etc.

Site exploring the "Charters of Freedom": Declaration of Independence; Constitution; Bill of Rights. From the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

"A Special Page Devoted to Teaching the U.S. Constitution. Primary sources and learning activities related to the Constitution."

The first-ever online portal to Brings together and make available congressional archives from across the U.S.
"The American Congress Digital Archives Portal is a collaborative, non-partisan project that makes congressional archives available online, bringing the history of the People’s Branch to the people. We provide open access to archival materials and the descriptive information (metadata) about those materials... Congressional archives are the primary materials generated by Congress and that document the work of Congress. They are separated into official records and personal papers. Personal papers, which this portal features, include materials created or received by an individual Member of Congress as documentation of their career, the organization and functions of the office, and the work of office staff."
Collaboration lead by West Virginia University Libraries.

Digitized photographs searchable by Nation, Topic, or State.
Record Group 75, National Archives and Records Administration.

Includes voting record of each Congress member.
"Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. It is presented by the Library of Congress (LOC)..."

"The End of Term Web Archive captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations. The EOT has thus far preserved websites from administration changes in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020." 2024 in-progress.
Scope: "The End of Term Web Archive contains federal government websites (.gov, .mil, etc) in the Legislative, Executive, or Judicial branches of the government. Websites that were at risk of changing (i.e., whitehouse.gov) or disappearing altogether during government transitions were captured. Local government websites, or any other site not part of the federal government domain were out of scope."

Transcriptions of primary source documents.
"Through this website, you can read and search through thousands of records from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison and see firsthand the growth of democracy and the birth of the Republic."

"Welcome to the Bureau of Land Management(BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site. We provide live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1788 and the present. We also have images of survey plats and field notes, land status records, and control document index records. Due to organization of documents in the GLO collection, this site does not currently contain every Federal title record issued for the Public Land States."

Free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. A service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO).

"The Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection (HCPC) comprises the papers of Hawaiʻi delegates to the U.S. Congress from statehood in 1959 to the present."

Access to digital collections held by the Library of Congress.

"The primary source documents on this page highlight pivotal moments in the course of American history or government. They are some of the most-viewed and sought-out documents in the holdings of the National Archives."
"To help us think, talk and teach about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our democracy..."

Links to the digitized holdings of the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives and Records Administration

"Explore the ways Americans have fought for, attained, and protected their rights."

Links to the digitized resources of the National Archives and Records Administration.

"Explore records of the National Archives documenting the ongoing struggle of Americans to define, attain, and protect their rights."

Hundreds of digitized Native American treaties.
*Click on "Resources" in the upper right corner for curriculum units.
The National Archives in partnership with the Indigenous Digital Archive project of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.