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Facing History: Responding to the Insurrection

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Facing History: Responding to the Insurrection

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In his 1963 essay "A Talk to Teachers," James Baldwin wrote: "American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it." In the events surrounding the recent presidential election in the United States, the essential truth of Baldwin's statement resonates anew.

This week's news alone, including the historic results of the Georgia senatorial runoff election and the attack on Congress, is provoking a whirlwind of conflicting emotions among Americans, as many are simultaneously buoyed by the expanding representation in our government and disturbed, angered, and frightened by the attack on the halls of Congress and our democratic system of government. In the days following these events, students will need opportunities to feel and express their emotions as well as support in separating facts from misinformation and sharing the news responsibly.

This Teaching Idea is designed to help guide an initial classroom reflection on the insurrection at the US Capitol that occurred on January 6, 2021. We will continue to publish resources on our Current Events as this story evolves over the coming weeks.

BEFORE TEACHING

1. Start with Yourself

Self-reflection is important preparation for facilitating conversations about troubling current events. As educators, we have to make time to process our own feelings and become aware of the way our own identities and experiences shape the perspectives we hold. Read the "Start with Yourself" section on page 2 of our Fostering Civil Discourse guide. Then reflect on the following questions:

What emotions does news of the insurrection at the Capitol raise for you? What questions are you grappling with?

What perspectives will you bring to your reflection on these events with your students?

What emotions might your students bring to your discussion? How can you respond to these emotions?

As the news develops, how will you continue to learn alongside your students?

2. Coordinate with Colleagues

Before you discuss the news of the insurrection at the Capitol with your class, it may be helpful to talk to other teachers in your school about how they plan to respond. This can ensure that students have space to reflect, while also helping to avoid repeating the same conversations with students throughout the day.

3. Adapt for Remote Instruction

If you are teaching remotely, it can be challenging to facilitate meaningful and emotional conversations. Consider using the remote teaching guidance in our Fostering Civil Discourse Guide to help you plan your conversation. Additionally, the following teaching strategies can help facilitate meaningful reflection or discussion, and they all provide adaptations for remote instruction:

Journals can help students process their thoughts and feelings. While learning remotely, students may benefit from having added opportunities to reflect individually before participating in remote discussions.

Graffiti Boards can help students "hear" each other's ideas, give students space and time to process emotional material, and create a record of students' ideas and questions that can be referred to at a later point.

Wraparound asks students to share aloud a quick response to a prompt. It provides an efficient way for all students in a classroom to share their ideas about a question, topic, or text, revealing common themes and ideas in students' thinking.

INITIAL CLASSROOM RESPONSE

In the midst of troubling and fast-moving events, it can be beneficial to focus first on emotional processing, addressing the "heart" before the "head." In your first conversation with your students about the events of January 6, 2021, provide your students space to reflect on their emotional responses to the event and surface questions they are sitting with.

1. Contract with Your Class

Let your students know that their learning environment is a safe and brave space. Begin with a brief Contracting activity if you have not already forged that space in your classroom. If you have already established a class contract, invite your students to add to or modify the contract to support this conversation using the following questions to prompt students' thinking:

Which norms in our class contract are most important for guiding a meaningful conversation about the news of the extremist mob that attacked the US Capitol and why?

Are there any new norms we need to add?

Remote Learning Note: Use our teaching strategy Contracting for Remote Learning to create two contracts with your class, one for in-person learning and one for remote learning.

2. Share What We Know

Breaking news changes quickly, and students may not know the most recent information, or they may have seen or read misinformation about the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Consider sharing a few bullet points or a resource from a trusted news outlet to establish baseline knowledge of the events and dispel misinformation. ( Note: You can find a list of reliable news outlets in our Current Events Teacher Checklist.)

It may also be helpful to share a definition of the term insurrection with your students, such as "an act of revolting against an established government," and explain that the events on January 6, 2021 involved people attempting to disrupt our democratically-elected government.2

Remote Learning Note: Share a few key bullet points summarizing the news with your students during a synchronous session, or share the bullet points with your students and ask them to review them asynchronously.

3. Create Space for Student Reflection

The classroom is a place where students should learn with intellectual rigor, emotional engagement, and ethical reflection, and come to understand that their own views and choices matter. We represent those core educational values in Facing History's "pedagogical triangle."

This integration of head, heart, and ethics is always important to learning, and it's particularly crucial when students are considering contentious and troubling news. Tell students that you want them to use their head, heart, and conscience in today's discussion. Invite them to open their journals, or a notebook, to reflect on questions related to the three points of the triangle. Tell students that these reflections will be private unless they choose to share them.

Questions you might use to prompt reflection include:

Head: What information do we currently know about the insurrection that happened on January 6, 2021? What additional facts or information would you like to have?

Heart: How do you feel about the insurrection and what is happening in the aftermath? Are there particular moments or images that stand out to you?

Conscience: What do you believe was at stake in the events on January 6, 2021? What questions about right and wrong, fairness or injustice, did insurrection raise for you? How should individuals or politicians act in order to protect our democratic institutions?

Invite students to share any reflections they wish to, but also give students the option to keep their reflections private. Possible ways to share include:

Ask your students to write short reflections or questions using the Graffiti Board teaching strategy. Address as many of your students' responses as you have time for and then save the graffiti board to help guide future discussions.

Ask students to share a word or phrase from their journal entries using the Wraparound teaching strategy.

Remote Learning Note: Students can reflect in their journals asynchronously before joining a synchronous or asynchronous discussion. Use our teaching strategy Journaling in a Remote Learning Environment for guidance on setting up student journals during remote learning. Ask students to share using our teaching strategy Graffiti Boards (Remote Learning) or Wraparound (Remote Learning).

4. Explore Strategies for Following the News

After you have given students time to reflect and process their initial responses to the event, you may decide to guide your students through strategies for engaging with news coverage of the event in a responsible way.

News coverage on breaking events is often incomplete and may include information that is later discounted. In addition, misinformation about the election contributed to the insurrection that occurred on January 6, 2021. Students should understand that established news sources are less likely to spread misinformation, since they have processes for vetting stories before publishing.

Begin by asking your students the following questions:

What questions should you consider before sharing news on social media or with friends?

Do you have any strategies to make sure that the news you follow is reliable?

Share the News Literacy Project's resource How to know what to trust and have students look over the steps it recommends following to determine whether a source is reliable. Ask your students:

Do you employ any of these strategies already? If so, which ones?

Do any of these strategies surprise you? Why or why not?

Invite students to write down their goals for how they will follow the news. Prompt them to respond to the following questions:

What can you do to ensure that the news and information you use to form your opinions is accurate?

How will you decide what news to share with your friends or family or post on social media?

What effect could misinformation have on our democracy?

Remote Learning Note: Ask students to reflect on the two initial questions individually. Then, ask them to share a short response, either synchronously or asynchronously, using the Wraparound (Remote Learning) strategy.

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Responding to the Insurrection at the US Capitol

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In his 1963 essay "A Talk to Teachers," James Baldwin wrote: "American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it." In the events surrounding the recent presidential election in the United States, the essential truth of Baldwin's statement resonates anew.

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PBS Newshour: Three Ways to Teach the Insurrection

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PBS Newshour: Three Ways to Teach the Insurrection

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Daily Video

Directions: Watch the video, read the summary below and answer the discussion questions. To read a transcript of the video,

Summary: The nation on Wednesday witnessed a grave breach of its democratic traditions. For the first time in American history, supporters of the losing presidential candidate forcibly disrupted the official counting of electoral votes.

After rioters forcefully entered the building, Trump tweeted a recorded message telling people to "go home now," while repeating false claims about the election.
ACTIVITY ONE: Class discussion Warm up questions:

1. What events took place on Wednesday at the nation's Capitol building?

2. Who was involved in the insurrection? Who was affected as a result of the safety breach?

3. Why did Trump supporters forcefully disrupt the counting of the electoral votes?

4. When and where did the insurrection take place?

5. How will the insurrection affect how the public views President Trump? How about Republicans who objected to the counting of the Electoral College, certifying Biden as the next president? How do you view Trump as a result of his actions yesterday and throughout his presidency?

Focus questions:

1. Why are the events at the U.S. Capitol being referred to as an insurrection rather than a protest? How would you describe the event?

2. What should happen to the individuals who stormed the Capitol?

3. If you were a lawmaker in Congress right now, how would you address your constituents about the events at the Capitol?

ACTIVITY TWO: Media Literacy
Several different U.S. departments and law enforcement agencies were sent to Washington D.C. including the National Guard during Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, which were overall very peaceful. Contrast this with Wednesday's insurrection at the nation's Capitol in which individuals stormed the halls of Congress.

Take a look at the two photos below (captions are below but read those after), one from a Black Lives Matter protest in 2016, and the other from today's storming of the Capitol. What do you notice? Who is in the photo? What events are taking place? Why do you think the photographer took the picture? What questions do you have?

Caption for photo #1: A supporter of President Donald Trump being walked down the steps of the Capitol during the insurrection in Washington D.C. Jan. 6, 2021. Courtesy: CNN (screenshot)

Caption for photo #2: Lone activist Ieshia Evans stands her ground while offering her hands for arrest as she is charged by riot police during a protest against police brutality outside the Baton Rouge Police Department in Louisiana, July 2016. Evans, a 28-year-old Pennsylvania nurse and mother of one, traveled to Baton Rouge to protest against the shooting of Alton Sterling. Sterling was a 37-year-old black man and father of five, who was shot at close range by two white police officers. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman
ACTIVITY THREE: Trump and Biden's comments Directions: Read the summary, watch the videos of President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden and answer the discussion questions below.
President Donald Trump released a video Wednesday, calling for his angry supporters to go home after thousands gathered outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., with some breaching the building and using force against law enforcement.

In his message, Trump repeated false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election before asking his supporters for peace.

"You have to go home now, we have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order," Trump said. "We love you. You're very special," he continued.

President-elect Joe Biden said: "To storm the Capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, the floor of the United States Senate...It's not protest, it's insurrection. The world is watching. Like so many other Americans, I am genuinely shocked and saddened that our nation, so long the beacon of light and hope of democracy has come to such a dark moment."

Biden went on to say America will endure and prevail and that he plans on restoring democracy, honor and the rule of law.
Discussion questions:

1. What do you think of President Trump's statement, which he released via social media? Did he sufficiently condemn the violence, and in the proper manner?

2. What do you think of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube's decision to delete Trump's statement? Did Twitter act appropriately by locking Trump's account for 12-hours?

3. Did Trump's debunked reiteration of a "fraudulent election" help or hurt efforts to diffuse the unrest? Similarly, what do you think of Trump telling those who forced themselves in the nation's Capitol, "We love you. You're very special"? How does this juxtapose with what the President has said of Black Lives Matter protestors?

4. How does President-elect Joe Biden's address, citing the "unprecedented assault" on the Capitol, compare to the remarks by President Trump?

5. In his address, Biden called upon Trump to make a formal national address to condemn the mob attacking the capital. Was Biden justified to make this request, and should Trump have listened? Do you think Trump should make a formal address condemning those who breached security at the Capitol?

Additional resources: High school teacher David Cutler contributed to this lesson.
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Classroom resource: Three ways to teach the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol | PBS NewsHour Extra

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Directions: Watch the video, read the summary below and answer the discussion questions. To read a transcript of the video, Summary: The nation on Wednesday witnessed a grave breach of its democratic traditions. For the first time in American history, supporters of the losing presidential candidate forcibly disrupted the official counting of electoral votes.

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Tolerance.org: When Bad Things are Happening

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Tolerance.org: When Bad Things are Happening

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We know that as news of a crisis makes its way into your classroom, both you and your students may need support figuring out how to respond. Here are a few suggestions for navigating a discussion with students as news unfolds.

These recommendations build on the Psychological First Aid (PFA) framework, developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: " Listen, Protect, Connect-Model & Teach," They also include suggestions from the American School Counselor Association and The Child Mind Institute.

Step 1: Listen.

Do not quiet or dismiss students who want to talk about what's happening. This is an issue of immediate importance, and it will occupy their minds whether you discuss it in class or not. Set aside the time necessary to catch them up on the news available to you, and debrief.

Let students express their feelings, share their experiences and vent. Consider letting them journal, draw or consider their reaction privately, as well. Give students time and space to react if they need it.

Step 2: Protect.

Misinformation always spreads rapidly after a crisis. Encourage a critical eye toward breaking news. If a shooting is involved, there may be fake profiles of the shooter meant to cater to stereotypes. No matter what's happened, there will likely be differing reports. Look for trustworthy sources and remain skeptical. Deal in facts and big ideas; avoid speculation. Don't let students watch nonstop, uninterrupted footage of the crisis.

Do your best to make students feel safe. Be honest, but remain calm. Organize the discussion as you would any discussion: Remember class routine, classroom contracts and community agreements. Keep control, even in this moment of interruption.

And remember to be aware of students who may be managing trauma or those whose lives have been touched by violence. Keep an eye on students, monitor reactions and recognize that trauma can manifest in a variety of behaviors, including anger and disengagement.

Step 3: Model.

Help students translate feelings of hopelessness into opportunities to respond with productive action. Join them in brainstorming ways they could support survivors and families experiencing this trauma.

Step 4: Take care of yourself.

Educators bear a heavy burden in trying to protect and support their students. Check in with your own feelings. And know that we have your back.

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We know that as news of a crisis makes its way into your classroom, both you and your students may need support figuring out how to respond. Here are a few suggestions for navigating a discussion with students as news unfolds. These recommendations build on the Psychological First Aid (PFA) framework, developed by the U.S.

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Bill of Rights Institute: Peaceful Transitions

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Bill of Rights Institute: Peaceful Transitions

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Peaceful Transitions - Bill of Rights Institute

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The most effective way to secure a freer America with more opportunity for all is through engaging, educating, and empowering our youth. And the most effective way to achieve that is through investing in The Bill of Rights Institute. We partner with teachers and students by providing valuable resources, tools, and experiences that promote civic engagement through a historical framework.

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Beyond the Spotlight: Resources for Teachers

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Beyond the Spotlight: Resources for Teachers

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GV asked their 3rd grade students, "What questions do you have?" on 1/7/2021

We welcome this guest post from Dr. Alyssa Hadley-Dunn, Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State University and founder of Teaching on the Days After: Dialogue & Resources for Educating Toward Justice

For educators, I am going to share some resources/ideas for use in your classrooms tomorrow. A reminder about everything that I share here: There is no one easy answer. Not everything works for every student or every teacher or in every classroom. I am not an expert in your classroom or your students (or an expert in anything, actually!). This is not a conversation that needs to or should be relegated to only Social Studies and English Language Arts classrooms.

Please note:

(1) These suggestions are not saying you MUST "teach" about what happened on 1/6/2021 (or any "day after" event or injustice). Days After Pedagogy doesn't mean turning trauma into a standard or a benchmarked lesson. But if you're going to TALK about it, do so with intention, care, and an explicit commitment to justice and equity.

(2) Do not do this if you are going to cause more harm or trauma. Do not center images of Black suffering and pain as a way to make this a "teachable" moment. White teachers, this means you/us.

(3) And please, remember that this is not about a one-off lesson. Days After Pedagogy only works if you've been teaching for justice on Days Before and Days During.

Note to Black teachers: I hope that you have time and space to care for yourselves, as you support your students. I hope that you have white colleagues who are talking about this, too, so you do not have to be the only one. I hope that you can find co-conspirators in your schools (or here).

Note to White teachers of white students: You HAVE to talk about what is happening. This is on us, every time and all the time. We cannot pretend to be surprised anymore. We have to do what we said we were going to do all summer when we were reading those anti-racist books and completing those anti-racism checklists. Our white students are not 'too young' to learn about this.

Note to White teachers of students of color, especially Black students: Please make sure you know what you are doing before you do it. Please make sure you know how to support your Black students and other students of color if you try to have these conversations. Make sure you to do not do more harm by entering into these conversations without careful thought and planning. Ideas/resources/links in comments on Facebook will be updated throughout the evening on our educator's group: Teaching on Days After: Dialogue & Resources for Educating Toward Justice..

TIPS & Resources

USING ZOOM: Breakout rooms can work to your advantage here. Especially if you are teaching students of color, create multiple breakout rooms for students based on what they want to and feel capable of talking about: (1) For students who do not want to discuss it right now and want to work independently on 'regular' class content; (2) For students who want to process with a partner; (3) For students who have many questions and want to process with you.

NAMING THE TRUTH: Think about the language that the media is using, especially when this first started happening. What does this language mean? What does it reveal and what does it obscure? (Hint: Racism.) For example: "protestors" versus "terrorists," "protest" versus "attack" or "coup."

ANALYZING IMAGES: There are many images being shared, including some of the Confederate flag in the Capitol building, of someone stealing a Podium, people hanging from the Capitol walls. What do these images tell us? What do they (attempt to) obscure? (Hint: Racism.)

WRITING: If you have students who might better process their thoughts through writing and/or you want to use writing as an intro activity, here are some potential prompts: What do you think happened yesterday? What do you know? What questions do you have? How would you like to process this as a community? If you are doing this virtually, you could have students work in individual or shared Google docs or other apps.

COMPARING A POLICE RESPONSE: There are many Tweets and stories that are being shared that compare images of response to BLM protests and today's terrorist action. You could use these images to ask students to compare what they think is happening and why it is happening. (Hint: Racism, white supremacy, white rage)

PUSH BACK AGAINST NEUTRALITY: Remember that it will do more harm to teach "both sides." This is not about both sides. This is about justice. This is a quotation from Tayari Jones that I like to use as a way to think about the "two sides" debate: "The middle is a point equidistant from two poles. That's it. There is nothing inherently virtuous about being neither here nor there. Buried in this is a false equivalency of ideas, what you might call the "good people on both sides" phenomenon. When we revisit our shameful past, ask yourself, Where was the middle? Rather than chattel slavery, perhaps we could agree on a nice program of indentured servitude? Instead of subjecting Japanese-American citizens to indefinite detention during WWII, what if we had agreed to give them actual sentences and perhaps provided a receipt for them to reclaim their things when they were released? What is halfway between moral and immoral?" -Tayari Jones, from " There's nothing virtuous about finding common ground ", Time Magazine, 2018

ESTABLISH DIALOGUE NORMS: Check out slides 26-28 in this presentation I do about "teaching on days after." These are some examples of dialogue norms you could discuss and use with your students.

LEARN AND PRACTICE INTERRUPTOR PHRASES: I don't actually think the classroom SHOULD be safe for all viewpoints. I am not going to debate another person's right to exist. I am not going to debate another person's humanity. These phrases can support strategies for harm reduction even if the absence of a completely "safe" space. Check out slide 31 here for some interruptor phrases to use if you need them:

ENGAGE IN A PEDAGOGY OF POLITICAL TRAUMA: If you are teaching Black students or other students of color, it will be especially important to find multiple ways to support them in this moment. C heck out slides 18-23 in this presentation for descriptions of what teachers have done in moments of political trauma. Some of this was in response to the 2016 election, research done with colleagues Hannah Carson Baggett and Beth Sondel and some is research done for the book that I'm writing right now on all types of days after.

NOTICE AND WONDER: Two great questions to get students thinking/talking (at any age, any grade level, any content) is to start with: What do you notice? What do you wonder? For example, using two paired texts of photos, one of police on the Capitol steps during the summer's BLM protests compared to a photo of terrorist in Nancy Pelosi's office, unguarded... What do you notice about each photo? What do you wonder?

60 SECOND TEXT: For teachers of the youngest learners, this is a great " 60 Second Text " from the wonderful Woke Kindergarten.

REMEMBER THIS IS NOT A SURPRISE: White teachers, do not be the teachers/people who are "surprised" by what is happening. Do not let your students be the students/people who are surprised by what is happening. Contextualize this within a historical lens of whiteness, white supremacy, settler colonialism... A great book to think through extended plans for historically and culturally relevant critical teaching is Dr. Gholdy Muhammad's Cultivating Genius. It is not just for literacy teachers!

EXPLORE TRUE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: Despite what some are saying, what we are seeing at the Capitol is not "civil disobedience." Here are some lessons from Teaching Tolerance about ACTUAL civil disobedience.

CONSIDER/SHARE MEDIA FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S.: Think about how other countries' media are covering these events. Find headlines and translations from major newspapers and consider what it means that the coverage is so different (as it will likely be).

USE MULTIPLE SOURCES: Remember that the news is emerging. Ask questions to help students process the events, perspectives, and biases. This document allows students to ask and track the questions they have as the news unfolds.

ALLOW FOR A VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES: Sara K. Ahmed from Being the Change uses google slides to invite students to share their news, how it relates to their identity, and what actions they might take.

About the Author

Dr. Alyssa Hadley Dunn's research centers on urban teacher education and support and the sociocultural and political contexts of urban schools, with a focus on issues of race, justice, and equity. A former high school English teacher, at present, Dr. Dunn is working on a book about how teachers make pedagogical decisions on "days after" major events, tragedies, or instances of injustice. (Check out the related Facebook page for educators here.)

A committed public scholar, Dr. Dunn's work has been featured on The Huffington Post, CNN, and National Public Radio, as well on education blogs and podcasts. In addition to publishing in journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Journal of Teacher Education, Urban Education, and Teaching and Teacher Education, she is the author of " Teachers Without Borders? The Hidden Consequences of International Teachers in U.S. Schools" (Teachers College Press, 2013) and " Urban Teaching in America: Theory, Research, and Practice in K-12 Schools" (Sage Publishers, 2011). She is also Senior Associate Editor of the journal Multicultural Perspectives.

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Resources for teachers on the days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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GV asked their 3rd grade students, "What questions do you have?" on 1/7/2021 We welcome this guest post from Dr. Alyssa Hadley-Dunn, Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State University and founder of Teaching on the Days After: Dialogue & Resources for Educating Toward Justice For educators, I am going to share some resources/ideas...

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A. A presidential transition is the process of planning for a new presidential term. That can include a new president entering office or a president starting their second term.

While campaigning to win an election, presidential contenders and a president seeking re-election should be laying the groundwork for the next four years. Presidential candidates must prepare for the responsibilities of taking office and create a transition team responsible for setting up infrastructure to turn campaign promises to policy and to plan a management agenda. Incumbents seeking reelection should view the pre-election and post-election periods as a transition, and use this time as an opportunity to plan for changes in the Cabinet and other leadership positions, and to craft second term policy and management agendas.
Q. Why are presidential transitions important?
A. Presidents must be ready to govern on Inauguration Day. With only about 75 days between Election Day and the inauguration, a transition team must create a plan for governing should their candidate win.

An incoming president is responsible for making more than 4,000 political appointments, overseeing a budget of nearly $4 trillion, and managing a huge organization that employs more than 2 million federal employees and more than 2 million military and reserve forces. An incumbent president is likely to face turnover in key politically appointed positions along with a wide range of domestic and foreign policy challenges.

Preparation is always crucial, but even more so as the country faces the devastating coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. Whoever takes the oath of office on January 20, 2021, must be ready to respond to concerns born from the pandemic, and other potential crises that could occur such as natural disasters and a host of foreign policy and national security issues.
Q. Are transitions only important when there is a change in presidents?
A. No, presidents running for reelection also should prepare for a transition to a second term.

Veterans of both Democratic and Republican White Houses recommend administrations think of the beginning of a second term as a transition from the first rather than a continuation of the status quo. By re-evaluating policy priorities and anticipating personnel changes, a transition enables presidents to be better prepared for success early in their second term.
Q. When should presidential campaigns begin transition planning?
A. Candidates should begin planning in the spring of an election year.

The Partnership for Public Service's Center for Presidential Transitions® offers a detailed guide to help candidates and their campaigns through the process.
Q. Is it presumptuous for a candidate to start transition planning so early? Won't it look like they are "measuring the drapes?"
A. Not at all.

Presidents must be ready to govern on day one. They have an obligation to fully plan the start of their administration. Many important tasks-such as getting security clearances for top national security staff-take too long to wait until an election victory to start.

Recent changes to the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 require federal agencies to plan for a transition, so current government leaders also have legal obligations to plan early.
Q. What do transition teams do?
A. The scope, structure and goals of transition teams will differ depending on the priorities of each candidate. However, all presidential transition teams are responsible for at least three primary tasks.

Develop a clear policy agenda. The transition team must determine a set of legislative, executive and agency proposals based on the campaign platform.

Evaluate how federal agencies can contribute to the president's management and policy agenda. Transition teams must understand of the structure and goals of more than 100 federal agencies, and then develop a plan for how each agency can help enact the president's goals.

Prepare to select more than 4,000 presidential appointees, including more than 1,200 that require Senate confirmation. A transition team for a new president must identify, recruit and guide enough candidates through the hiring process to ensure an administration is prepared on Inauguration Day. Many potential staff members need to go through a stringent security clearance and ethics review, and the transition team also needs to prepare nominees for that process.

Q. Who is involved in a presidential transition?
A. In addition to the candidate transition teams, there are three other groups that play an essential role in transition planning.

The sitting presidential administration: According to the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, sitting administrations must prepare for a transition even if the current president is running for reelection. The White House is responsible for establishing a council of leaders in the federal government to prepare for transition.

Federal departments and agencies: Senior agency officials responsible for transition activities begin preparing at least six months before the election. Across all federal departments and agencies, these officials build internal teams to provide timely and relevant information to incoming senior leaders about policies, operations, budgets and personnel. If there is a new president, these transition teams will prepare the new administration's team regarding on agency policies and programs, as well as budgets and other issues. The Partnership for Public Service's Center for Presidential Transitions® offers a detailed guide to assist senior career leaders through the process.

The General Services Administration (GSA): GSA provides funding, office space and administrative support to the major candidates in the months preceding the election, beginning immediately following the major political conventions. GSA also serves as a liaison between transitions teams and federal agencies.

Q. Which campaigns receive public funds and assistance?
A. GSA gives to "eligible" campaigns, defined as "a candidate of a major party [as defined in 26 U.S.C. §9002(6)] for President or Vice-President of the United States; and ... any other candidate who has been determined by the Administrator to be among the principal contenders for the general election to such offices."

To receive public support, presidential campaigns must establish a separate transition organization, disclose financial supporters, and release and enforce ethics plans for transition team members.
Q. Who pays for transition planning?
A. Presidential transition teams are nonprofit entities, separate from the campaigns, and require their own space, people and money.

Since 1963, transitions have been paid for by a combination of private and public funds. In 2010, Congress increased the amount of assistance available to transition teams.

For the 2020 election, Congress appropriated $9.62 million for transition activities to each eligible campaign. If candidates plan to accept government support, they must disclose privately raised funds to the public, which are subject to a $5,000 per person limit.
Q. How much does a presidential transition cost?
A. Most recent presidential transitions have each cost more than $10 million.

In 2008, Barack Obama's transition cost roughly $9.3 million, with about $4 million raised from private donors.

In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney's transition team was the first to take advantage of the newly amended pre-election funding provisions approved by Congress in 2010. The Romney team received $8.9 million in government funds. The team spent an additional $1.4 million in privately raised funds, much of which was returned to donors after Romney's 2012 defeat.

In 2016, Donald Trump's transition effort was allocated $6 million in government funding while another $1 million was set aside to help prepare new appointees. The Trump team raised more than $6.5 million from private donors.
Q. What happens if a president is re-elected?
A. In the event that the president-elect is the incumbent, federal transition funds for post-election transition activities are returned to the Treasury. The law does allow for GSA to use funds for training of new political appointees throughout a president's term.
Q. What happens if the result of the election is unclear?
A. The law allows all major candidates to continue using the facilities and services provided by the government until the GSA administrator is able to determine the apparent successful candidates for the office of president and vice president.

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The Basics: Frequently Asked Questions about Presidential Transitions * Center for Presidential Transition

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A. A presidential transition is the process of planning for a new presidential term. That can include a new president entering office or a president starting their second term. While campaigning to win an election, presidential contenders and a president seeking re-election should be laying the groundwork for the next four years.

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PBS: Lax Security at the Capital Prompts Demand for Answers

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PBS: Lax Security at the Capital Prompts Demand for Answers

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Lax security at the Capitol prompts widespread demand for answers

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Facing History: Political Polarization in the United States

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Facing History: Political Polarization in the United States

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What is political polarization, and is the United States becoming more polarized?

The United States has two main political parties, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. In the early 1990s, the two parties had more similar policy agendas than they do today. Over the last 25 years, the Democratic Party has moved more to the "left," while the Republican Party has moved more to the "right."

What do "left" and "right" mean in American politics?

Politics are complicated, and it is hard to reduce policies to a simple left-right spectrum. In general, the left is associated with socially liberal policies and economic policies that create a greater social safety net, while the right is associated with socially conservative policies and less regulation of the economy.

LEFT (liberal)

Example economic policies: expansion of government-provided health care; increase in minimum wage

Example social policies: expansion of LGBTQ rights; more pathways to citizenship for immigrants

RIGHT (conservative)

Example economic policies: lowering taxes on wealth; limiting government regulation of the economy

Example social policies: immigration restrictions; limiting access to abortion

Thus, the gap between the policy positions of the Democratic and Republican Parties is also growing, and more Americans now identify consistently with the main policy positions of their party than in previous years. People often change their political beliefs to match the positions of their party, which reinforces divides between the parties.

Americans also tend to have greater feelings of dislike toward members of the other political party than they have had in previous years.

In 1960, 4% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats said they would be displeased if their son or daughter married someone of the opposite party.

In 2019, 45% of Democrats said they would be unhappy if their child married a Republican and 35% of Republicans say they would be unhappy if their child married a Democrat.

ASK YOURSELF: What does political polarization look, sound, and feel like where you live?

What causes polarization?

Polarization is complex, and scholars are still debating the exact factors that contribute to it. This section highlights four of the many factors that are likely contributing to polarization's rise.

1. Political Activism: Political activists in each party tend to push for policies that are further to the left (in the Democratic Party) and further to the right (in the Republican Party). Some scholars believe that the increased influence of political activists has widened the gap between the two parties' platforms.

2. Election Policies: Recent policy changes have given political activists more power to influence which candidates get picked to run for office. For example, campaign finance reforms have made it easier for political activists to give large amounts of money to the candidate they support. Also, more districts are , which can lead to districts that are overwhelmingly populated by members of the same party. Gerrymandered districts often elect candidates who support policies that appeal more to the party base than to the center of the political spectrum. Primary elections can push political parties more toward the poles as well, since candidates often must appeal to activists within their political party in order to win a primary.

3. In-Group Bias: Psychological factors also play a vital role in reinforcing partisanship. While we may like to think that people form their political opinions based on a rational evaluation of different policies, research shows that cognitive biases, such as in-group bias, drive people to change their political opinions to match those of their group.

Anytime we join a group, we start to develop positive feelings toward other group members and negative or distrustful feelings toward non-members. In the American two-party system, people often have negative associations with members of the other political party. These negative feelings can make it difficult for people to have productive conversations about policy across the political divide. Once people are members of a political party, they often switch their political opinions to match the positions of their chosen party. As a result, as political parties become more polarized, so do the average voters.

4. Media Bubbles: Many Americans are exposed to partisan news in their social media feeds and often have very few social media friends on the other end of the political spectrum. Online platforms, such as YouTube, use algorithms to expose viewers to increasingly extreme content, which can lead them to fringe political views without their realizing it. Spending time in a political echo-chamber can make it easier for negative feelings toward members of the other political party to develop.

What are the consequences of polarization?

Polarization is not all bad. The two main political parties in the United States are now more distinct than in previous decades, which gives voters more meaningful choices. However, as political parties move toward the poles and people increasingly distrust members of the other political party, it has become difficult for politicians to agree on a way forward. Congress is more likely to gridlock and find it difficult to pass legislation, while campaigns and partisan media can become more divisive.

ASK YOURSELF: How do you think polarization might influence how Americans respond to current issues?

​​What are the limits of polarization?

Despite growing polarization, Americans are less likely to express negative feelings toward someone of the other political party if they are told that the other person does not care very much about politics, or if they are asked to focus on other aspects of their identities, like their shared identity as Americans or fans of the same sports team.

In addition, many policies have bipartisan support, or support from members of both the Republican and Democratic Parties. For example:

What can I do about political polarization?

Reforming the policies that govern elections and governance can help decrease political polarization, but there are also things that individuals can do:

1. Focus on issues rather than parties: Decide what policies you want to pass, instead of focusing only on which political party you want to win the election. Try getting involved in local politics, where issues often matter more than political parties.

2. Break out of your media bubble: Try to follow a variety of news sources that examine issues from different political angles. You can use AllSides to find out more about the political leanings of different news outlets.

3. Learn to listen: Try to understand the perspectives of people on the other side of the political spectrum and listen to other points of view before judging. Read the Greater Good Magazine article Five Ways to Have Better Conversations Across Difference for advice on how to have a productive discussion with people who have different perspectives or experiences.

ASK YOURSELF: What other individual or policy changes do you think could help to decrease the negative effects of polarization?

Related Facing History Resources & Learning Opportunities

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Political Polarization in the United States

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This Explainer defines the term political polarization and provides information on how it impacts US politics and society.

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President Obama: The Peaceful Transition of Power

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President Obama: The Peaceful Transition of Power

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On November 9, 2016, President Obama delivered remarks about the results of the U.S. presidential elections and the election of Donald Trump. He explained the importance of a peaceful transition of power:
(...) Now, it is no secret that the President-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. But remember, eight years ago, President Bush and I had some pretty significant differences. But President Bush's team could not have been more professional or more gracious in making sure we had a smooth transition so that we could hit the ground running. And one thing you realize quickly in this job is that the presidency, and the vice presidency, is bigger than any of us.

So I have instructed my team to follow the example that President Bush's team set eight years ago, and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the President-elect - because we are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country. The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. And over the next few months, we are going to show that to the world.

(...)The point, though, is, is that we all go forward, with a presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens - because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy. That's how this country has moved forward for 240 years. It's how we've pushed boundaries and promoted freedom around the world. That's how we've expanded the rights of our founding to reach all of our citizens. It's how we have come this far.

And that's why I'm confident that this incredible journey that we're on as Americans will go on. And I am looking forward to doing everything that I can to make sure that the next President is successful in that. I have said before, I think of this job as being a relay runner - you take the baton, you run your best race, and hopefully, by the time you hand it off you're a little further ahead, you've made a little progress. And I can say that we've done that, and I want to make sure that handoff is well-executed, because ultimately we're all on the same team.

Full remarks are available here.

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President Obama: The Peaceful Transition of Power Is One of the Hallmarks of our Democracy | U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Poland

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On November 9, 2016, President Obama delivered remarks about the results of the U.S. presidential elections and the election of Donald Trump. He explained the importance of a peaceful transition of power: (...) Now, it is no secret that the President-elect and I have some pretty significant differences.

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Facing History: Big Paper, Building a Silent Conversation

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Facing History: Big Paper, Building a Silent Conversation

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This teaching strategy was originally designed for use in a face-to-face setting. For tips and guidance on how to use this teaching strategy in a remote or hybrid learning environment, view our Big Paper (Remote Learning) teaching strategy.
This discussion strategy uses writing and silence as tools to help students explore a topic in depth. In a Big Paper discussion, students write out their responses to a stimulus, such as a quotation or historical document. This process slows down students' thinking and gives them an opportunity to focus on the views of others. It also creates a visual record of students' thoughts and questions that you can refer to later in a course. You can use this strategy both to engage students who are not as likely to participate in a verbal discussion and to help make sure that students who are eager to talk and listen carefully to the ideas of their classmates. After they participate in this activity several times, students' comfort, confidence, and skill in using this method increases.

1. Select a Stimulus for Discussion
First, you will need to select the "stimulus"-the material that students will respond to. A stimulus might consist of questions, quotations, historical documents, excerpts from novels, poetry, or images. Groups can all be given the same stimulus for discussion, but more often they are each given a different text related to the same theme. This activity works best when students are working in pairs or triads. Each group also needs a sheet of big poster paper that can fit a written conversation and added comments. In the middle of each of these, tape or write the "stimulus" (image, quotation, excerpt, etc.) that will be used to spark the students' discussion.

2. Prepare Students
Inform the class that this activity will be completed in silence. All communication is done in writing. Students should be told that they will have time to speak in pairs and in the large groups later. Go over all of the instructions at the beginning so that they do not ask questions during the activity. Also, before the activity starts, the teacher should ask students if they have questions, to minimize the chance that students will interrupt the silence once it has begun. You can also remind students of their task as they begin each new step.

3. Students Comment on Their Group's Big Paper
Each group receives a Big Paper and each student gets a marker or pen. Some teachers have each student use a different color to make it easier to see the back-and-forth flow of a conversation. The groups read the text (or look at the image) in silence. After students have read, they are to comment on the text and ask questions of each other in writing on the Big Paper. The written conversation must start on the topic of the text but can stray wherever the students take it. If someone in the group writes a question, another member of the group should address the question by writing on the Big Paper. Students can draw lines connecting a comment to a particular question. Make sure students know that more than one of them can write on the Big Paper at the same time. The teacher can determine the length of this step, but it should be at least 15 minutes.

4. Students Comment on Other Groups' Big Papers
Still working in silence, students leave their groups and walk around reading the other Big Papers. Students bring their marker or pen with them and can write comments or further questions for thought on other Big Papers. Again, you can determine the length of time for this step based on the number of Big Papers and your knowledge of the students.

5. Students Return to Their Group's Big Paper Silence is broken.
The groups reassemble back at their own Big Paper. They should look at any new comments written by others. Now they can have a free verbal conversation about the text, their own comments, what they read on other papers, and the comments their fellow students wrote for them. At this point, you might ask students to take out their journals and identify a question or comment that stands out to them.

6. Discuss as a Class
Finally, debrief the process with the large group. The conversation can begin with a simple prompt such as, "What did you learn from doing this activity?" This is the time to delve deeper into the content and use ideas on the Big Papers to draw out students' thoughts. The discussion can also touch upon the importance and difficulty of staying silent and students' level of comfort with this activity.

Little Paper: With a Little Paper activity, the "stimulus" (question, excerpt, quotation, etc.) is placed in the center of a regular-sized piece of paper. Often, teachers select four to five different "stimuli" and create groups of the same size. Each student begins by commenting on the "stimulus" on his/her Little Paper. After a few minutes, each paper is passed to the student on the left (or right). This process is repeated until all students have had the opportunity to comment on every paper. All of this is done in silence, just like the Big Paper activity. Then students review the Little Paper they had first, noticing comments made by their peers. Finally, small groups have a discussion about the questions and ideas that stand out to them from this exercise.

Gallery Walk: The Big Paper activity can also be structured as a Gallery Walk. In this arrangement, Big Papers are taped to the walls or placed on tables, and students comment on the Big Papers in silence, at their own pace. Sometimes teachers assign students, often in pairs or triads, to a particular Big Paper and then have them switch to the next one after five or ten minutes.

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Big Paper: Building a Silent Conversation

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This teaching strategy was originally designed for use in a face-to-face setting. For tips and guidance on how to use this teaching strategy in a remote or hybrid learning environment, view our Big Paper (Remote Learning) teaching strategy. This discussion strategy uses writing and silence as tools to help students explore a topic in depth.

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Share My Lesson: Foundations of Democracy

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Share My Lesson: Foundations of Democracy

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We have updated these resources as of January 6, 2021, to help facilitate meaningful discussions with students and communities about the attempt of a mob to infiltrate the Capitol and impede election certification in Washington, DC, and to put a focus on how crucial the foundations of democracy are to the preservation of a functional government.

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Media literacy is the ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, CREATE, and ACT using all forms of communication. In its simplest terms, media literacy builds upon the foundation of traditional literacy and offers new forms of reading and writing. Media literacy empowers people to be critical thinkers and makers, effective communicators and active citizens.

National Association of Media Literacy Education

Media is an important part of the ecosystem that influences (both positively and negatively) whether and how young people participate in civic life. News in print, podcasts, on television, in social media, and cultural work shared online inform youth about the world and shape their understanding of how they can contribute to it - or whether they try.

Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement

The Republic is (Still) at Risk - and Civics is Part of the Solution highlights the importance of news media literacy education as a complementary stream to the proven practices of civic education embedded in the Illinois middle and high school course requirements. The proven practices of current and controversial issue discussions, simulations of democratic processes, and service learning are contingent on a student's ability to consume and produce information to address essential questions facing our constitutional republic.

This toolkit provides classrooms with tools to help students wisely consume and produce information.

Help students be wise consumers of information

The American Press Institute has activities and lesson plans for all ages.

The Center for Media Literacy designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated resources for educators and communities that comprise the CML MediaLit Kit™. CML's framework for media literacy is evidenced-based, backed by a peer-reviewed longitudinal study by UCLA.

The Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University offers a Digital Resource Center that teachers can sign up for to curate resources for classroom use.

The Civic Education Research Group hosts a series of videos to promote youth media literacy.

Crash Course - Navigating Digital Information is a ten episode series that covers fact-checking, lateral reading, deciding who to trust, using Wikipedia, interpreting data and infographics, click restraint, social media, and evaluating evidence, photos, and videos.

Cyberwise promises to leave "no grown up behind" by sharing resources to teach kids to use tech safely and wisely.

Edutopia vetted a five-minute film festival with nine videos on news literacy.

Facing History and Ourselves partnered with the News Literacy Project to create a timely unit on media literacy called "Facing Ferguson" that is appropriate for high school students.

Factitious is a game that tests students' news sense. They updated the game to include COVID-19 information.

iCivics created curriculum units for both middle and high school students around news literacy as well as an online game called NewsFeed Defenders.

LAMP, or Learning about Multimedia Project, curated materials that shine a light to "challenge stereotypes, fake news, and more."

The National Association of Media Literacy Education assembled a parents guide with useful talking points. The organization also launched the "Stop Media Monsters" campaign to promote basic literacy in the public.

Newseum ED has wonderful infographics as well as lesson plans.

The News Literacy Project (NLP) works with educators and journalists to give students the skills they need to discern fact from fiction and to know what to trust.

Checkology is NLP's browser-based platform, designed for students in grades 6-12, that helps prepare the next generation to easily identify misinformation.

NLP's resource library includes lesson plans, classroom activities, posters and infographics, quizzes, and more for educators teaching news literacy.

Informable is NLP's free mobile app through which users practice four distinct news literacy skills in a game-like format: distinguishing news reports from opinion pieces; advertisements from other types of information; false claims from credible evidence; and fact-based statements from opinion-based statements.

NLP provides a Tips & Tools page to test and sharpen news literacy skills with short activities, engaging quizzes, and shareable graphics.

PBS NewsHour EXTRA's new website, Journalism in Action, teaches students about the history of journalism in a fun way with primary sources and interactive activities.

The Pulitzer Center provides programming to engage students, foster curiosity, and encourage critical thinking with lesson plans, in-person and Skype journalist visits, workshops, and professional development.

Spot the Troll from Clemson University is an online quiz to help the public learn to spot the markers of inauthenticity in social media accounts.

The Stanford History Education Group's portal for Civic Online Reasoning provides free lessons and assessments that teaches students to evaluate online information affecting them, their communities, and the world.

Time for Kids' Explains podcast has a recurring segment called "Fact or Fishy?" that encourages kids to think about what's credible in the news.

Help students be wise producers of information

Adobe Education Exchange: Access online courses and curricula to deepen your media-making skills and tap into your creativity, from learning about digital publishing to poster-making, Photoshop to storytelling, all using Adobe tools (free as well as paid).

Civic Education Research Group shares videos of students engaging in investigation and research as well as media to engage their voice and take actions to benefit their communities.

Common Sense Education: Educators can find free lessons for teaching students (K-12) Digital Citizenship and building young peoples' capacities as thoughtful media creators. The site also shares their picks of the best tech-creation tools out there.

The Digital Civics Toolkit is a collection of resources for educators to support youth to explore, recognize, and take seriously the civic potential of digital life.

Facing History and Ourselves' Journalism in a Digital Age helps students to explore the changing landscape of journalism in the digital age and to consider their roles as creators and consumers of news using the documentary film Reporter.

KQED shares a range of resources for helping middle and high school students create media, including KQED Learn, online courses, and a Media Literacy Educator certification.

PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs hosts a series of lesson plans that cover the basics of local community journalism, storytelling, scripting and video editing.

The Youth Media-Making Toolkit from CIRCLE promotes youth voice, voting, and democratic participation through media creation. Lessons guide teens to plan, make, and share diverse media about voting and civic engagement: short videos, photos, internet memes, animated GIFs, and persuasive images for social media.

The YouthLearn Media Literacy Toolbox includes activities, handouts, and curricular resources to support media literacy education and youth media creation in a variety of settings as well as examples of youth-created media.

Media literacy resources related to the pandemic

Common Sense Education curated Tips and Resources for News Literacy, Media Balance, and Healthy Communication.

Facing History created this teaching idea around Protecting Against COVID-19 and Standing Against Racism to provide students with factually correct information and opportunities to reflect on the consequences of discrimination in order to make them less likely to participate in coronavirus-inspired racism. It also encourages them to challenge such othering if or when they encounter it.

Infodemic is a self-paced quick news literacy exercise that students can use linked to misinformation about the COVID-19 virus. It assists students in applying the SIFT method that the News LIteracy Project also employs.

KQED has created a curriculum around Misinformation, Data Literacy, and the Novel Coronavirus to teach students how to identify misinformation and stop its spread.Your students might reach out to you with questions about COVID-19.

The News Literacy Project created a web page to address misinformation about the virus.

In Dangerous Numbers? Teaching About Data and Statistics Using the Coronavirus Outbreak from the New York Times, a math teacher helps students critically analyze data that is in the news.

NewsGuard's new Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center ranks and lists news and information sites in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany that published false information about the virus.

With many schools closing and teaching moving online, PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs created a special unit that covers the basics of local community journalism, storytelling, scripting, and video editing. These are tough times for everyone, and student stories will add a uniquely-critical perspective to coronavirus coverage.

Stay up to date with the latest resources to support media literacy in the classroom

The Sift from the News Literacy Project is a weekly newsletter that explores current examples of misinformation, addresses media and press freedom topics, and discusses social media trends and issues. This timely content is used as starting points for discussion prompts, activities, and other teachable moments in news literacy, both in and out of the classroom.

Is that a fact? Is a daily podcast from the News Literacy Project that informs listeners about news literacy issues affecting their lives through informative conversations with experts working to combat misinformation.

Educators can join the National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) and receive a monthly newsletter of resources and professional learning opportunities from educational partners.

Join KQED Learn. KQED Learn is a free platform for middle and high school students to tackle big issues and build their media literacy and critical thinking skills in a supportive environment. You will receive email updates on new resources, youth media engagement opportunities, and professional development.

Learn more about the importance of media literacy

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learing and Engagement (CIRCLE) offers resources that delve into Youth in Media for Democracy to explore the relationship between media literacy and youth civic engagement.

Life after Youth Media examines the impact of Chicago's youth media sector on the ability to consume and produce information that impact civic dispositions and engagement.

The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) provides explainers demonstrating how media literacy empowers people to be critical thinkers and makers, effective communicators, and active citizens.

Navigating Youth Media Landscapes: Challenges and Opportunities for Youth Media curates quantitative and qualitative work from respected organizations to learn more about current 6-12th grade media practices and identify opportunities for public media to reach this young audience.

Preparing Children and Youth for Civic Life in the Era of Truth Decay, Insights from the American Teacher Panel is a report from the Rand Corporation makes the case that schools must empower students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to combat "truth decay" and be informed, effective participants in civic life.

The Republic is (Still) at Risk - and Civics is Part of the Solution provides an overview of the proven practices civic education as well as complementary practices including news media literacy.

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Media literacy is the ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, CREATE, and ACT using all forms of communication. In its simplest terms, media literacy builds upon the foundation of traditional literacy and offers new forms of reading and writing. Media literacy empowers people to be critical thinkers and makers, effective communicators and active citizens.

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IllinoiseCivics.org: Where do we do from here? 2020 Election

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IllinoiseCivics.org: Where do we do from here? 2020 Election

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by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist

While the 2020 election season draws to a close, IllinoisCivics.org is committed to helping classrooms prepare for what comes next after a contentious and polarized election season. Students will need help processing the election results and their impact on current and societal issues their communities face around justice, power, equity, and safety.

As all educators are civics teachers, we have a responsibility to prioritize our students' lived experiences, putting Maslow before Bloom, to inform the essential questions we address in our curriculum. Educators will not have all of the answers to the questions students pose, but we can create a classroom space where we can be present, listen, and create a safe environment for our students to do the same.

Here are a number of ideas and resources to support this work beyond the 2020 election.

Start with Reflection

Your students may be wrestling with a range of emotions post-election. We cannot assume what students are feeling or their perceptions of the election results. The tools below can be used to "check-in" and see where students are at. After using the tool that works for you, collect student responses, and display them in a chart or word cloud. Discuss the patterns, trends, and outliers to build empathy and awareness of self and others in the class. Engage students in a proactive conversation about what can be done to address past issues and the question - Where do we go from here?

Have students individually complete the following sentence, "When I think about the results of the 2020 election, I feel_____________ because________________."

Use some of the Visible Thinking Routines from Project Zero:

Compass Point Reflection has students identify something that is worrisome, exciting, a "need to know," and a suggestion for moving forward post-election.

Color, Symbol, Image asks students to share and discuss a color, a symbol, and an image that represents how they are feeling post-election.

3-2-1 Bridge can be used to have students identify 3 thoughts they have about the election results, 2 questions they have, and 1 idea they have for moving forward.

Claim, Support, Question prompts students make a claim about the election results, support it with evidence, and a question they still have.

Have students identify where they are post-election on this Blob Tree, explain their placement, and the questions they have from their position on the tree. This tool is especially user-friendly for younger students.

Revisit Norms for Discussion

One of the essential questions tackled in any classroom is, "How should we live together?" Revisit your classroom norms for discussion. What does productive dialogue look like, feel like, and sound like? Here are a few tools to help to recalibrate or establish these norms.

Class Contracting from Facing History and Ourselves helps students discuss expectations and norms of how class members will treat one another face to face or online.

This one-page explainer of Dialogue vs. Debate from the U.S. Institute of Peace provides students a vision of productive dialogue.

Teaching Tolerance shares the importance of creating a Classroom Culture to foster respect for oneself and others and uses What is your FRAME? to encourage students to reflect on their own background and enlarge their perspectives.

Have a Structure for Your Conversation

Great classroom discussions, like great lesson plans, rarely "happen." They take time and intention. Here are a few strategies to consider employing to help students share their reflections and address the essential question, "Where do we go from here?"

Socratic Seminar is a protocol designed to help students dive into a common text or process a common experience to promote understanding of multiple perspectives, deepen inquiry, and create understanding of the lived experiences of others. You could support the seminar with an article you have curated about the election or with ideas students created in one of the reflection activities above. This guide from Facing History and Ourselves provides an overview of the strategy in traditional classrooms and there is also a remote learning edition from the IllinoisCivics.org Remote Learning Toolkit.

Big Paper Talk allows students to reflect on a common text or experience and silently share their thoughts before engaging in a larger conversation. There is both a face to face and remote learning edition from Facing History and Ourselves.

Hexagonal Thinking is a tool that can be used in the traditional or remote classroom. Students use hexagons (physical or digital) to personally reflect on a prompt and then bring the hexagons to the larger group to make a hexagonal map, illustrating connections between participant ideas. Students work together to connect all of the ideas, deliberate how the hexagons should be shifted, question to understand, and create new hexagons if needed to make connections. You can find out more about this strategy from the Cult of Pedagogy blog or Vision in Practice.

Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn from Facing History and Ourselves has students journal, share and listen, then discuss ideas in small groups before moving to whole class group sharing and discussion. This protocol ends with a reflective journal entry. Students focus on listening to understand rather than to respond.

Words Matter

Classrooms often work to simulate the "real world" for students. However, much of the debate happening outside of the classroom is hyperbolic, misinformed, and often hurtful. Explicitly teaching and modeling "how we should live together" in the classroom is an important step to building "a more perfect union" outside of the classroom.

When speaking of the candidates, use formal language. Use terms like President Trump and Vice-President Biden rather than terms like "Trump" and "Uncle Joe." Avoid the language of . As iCivics Chief Education Officer Emma Humphries recently explained in an opinion piece for The Hechinger Report, "Vocabulary can be divisive, so give some thought to class norms for talking about the parties and candidates. For example, say the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, not the Republicans or the Democrats."

Give students tools like these sentence starters from Teach Thought and these transition statements from Illinois Civics Instructional Coach Candace Fikis to support civil discussion. This is especially useful for ELL students.

Do not allow dehumanizing language. To quote activist and writer James Baldwin, "We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist." The Teaching Tolerance, Let's Talk resource has specific advice on how to handle inappropriate language.

Model Media Literacy

Speculation and rumors may abound post-election day, especially if final results are delayed. You and your students do not have to navigate the information landscape alone.

This is NOT a "One and Done" Lesson Plan

These conversations will be ongoing. There are several civic learning providers who are creating space for educators to process, learn, and share resources.

On Wednesday, November 4, Dr. Shawn Healy, the Director of the Democracy Program at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, will lead an afterschool webinar on Processing the Results of the 2020 Election.

On Thursday, November 5 the Teaching for Democracy Alliance will host a special Twitter Chat at 6 p.m. CT. Your favorite civic learning providers will share resources around emerging questions involving the election results in partnership with the #sschat community.

On Wednesday, November 11, IllinoisCivics.org will host an afterschool Post Election Analysis with Dr. Steven D. Schwinn, Law Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago John Marshall Law School. There will be a special emphasis on the impact the election may have on the judicial branch and any issues related to the elections before the courts.

On November 12, Facing History and Ourselves will host an online webinar, After the Election: What's Next for U.S. Democracy?

For further reading about "Where do we go from here?" consider the following:

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Where Do We Go from Here? Resources to Help Classrooms Process the 2020 Election

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by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist While the 2020 election season draws to a close, IllinoisCivics.org is committed to helping classrooms prepare for what comes next after a contentious and polarized election season. Students will need help processing the election results and their impact on current and societal issues their communities face around justice, power, equity, and safety.

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In the 1830s, a French visitor named Alexis de Tocqueville toured the United States to learn why the American Revolution had created a functioning democracy whereas the French Revolution had failed. His classic book, Democracy in America, listed a number of reasons for this success, including one still considered a national trait: "Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of dispositions are forever forming associations." They gathered for every sort of civic purpose, and in the process, he concluded, they were fulfilling the promise of self-government.

We remain a nation of joiners. Every day and at all ages, we come together voluntarily in civic groups, religious institutions, benevolence societies, sports leagues, service societies, and school clubs, among thousands of other organizations. In doing so, we exercise the fundamental freedoms of assembly and association, rights protected by the First Amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging . . . the right of the people peaceably to assemble."

The founding generation understood the value of the freedom of assembly because they had relied on it during their struggle for independence. The colonists used a variety of methods to protest British violations of their liberties; chief among them were assemblies of people, such as the Sons of Liberty, willing to make their grievances known publicly. English law allowed these gatherings unless they endangered public safety, and royal authorities often labeled colonial protests as dangerous to public order. Not all of the assemblies were peaceful, of course; the colonists resisted British attempts to suppress their protests, sometimes with force.

The revolutionary creation of a government based on popular consent carried with it an obligation to provide a way for citizens to express their views and protest against authority collectively as well as individually.This notion seemed so obvious to many people that they thought it was not necessary to list it as a protected right. "If people converse together they must assemble for that purpose," noted one member of the First Congress. "It is a self-evident, inalienable right which the people possess." But the framers of the First Amendment, remembering their recent experience, thought otherwise. If they did not protect it, officials might do as the British had done and try to deny collective protests against the government. They knew the right of peaceful assembly gave meaning to the other rights of expression. Individual citizens had limited ability to influence the government, but people acting together could exercise great power to protect their liberty from abuse.

Throughout U.S. history, demonstrations, marches, and rallies have been common ways to pressure legislators to change laws and provide remedies for intolerable conditions. Striking workers, antiwar protesters, civil rights marchers, and woman suffragists are among the hundreds of groups that have filled streets and public squares, challenging what they judged to be unequal treatment or misguided policies. Many of these events still carry great emotional or symbolic significance. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the civil rights March on Washington in 1963, the large antiwar protests of the late 1960s, and the 1995 Million Man March, organized by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, remain vivid memories for many Americans, in large measure because they were among the first televised demonstrations in the nation's history. All these various forms of assembly were protected by the First Amendment. Riots and other violent acts do not have the same guarantee, even if the underlying grievances are the same as protests of peaceful assemblies.

Until the twentieth century, the First Amendment limited only the federal government, not the states. A right of assembly also appeared in many state constitutions, but minority groups often discovered its protections did not apply equally to them. The word peaceable had come to be interpreted as "legal," or whatever the lawmakers or police officers allowed. Courts and legislators, in the name of ensuring public safety, outlawed any gatherings with a "bad tendency" to produce disorder. The right of assembly did not protect these assemblies. Socialists, communists, labor unions, and other so-called radical groups were prosecuted routinely under laws that forbade demonstrations deemed to threaten public safety. A dockworker in Portland, Oregon, named Dirk DeJonge was a communist who sought an end to capitalism by organizing a labor union. He received a seven-year prison sentence for advocating an industrial and political revolution. Significantly, a state law also forbade voluntary assemblies for the purpose of advocating these activities. In 1937, the Supreme Court reversed DeJonge's conviction and gave new force to the right to assemble peacefully. Free speech, free press, and free assembly were necessary "for free political discussion, to the end that government may be responsive to the will of the people and that changes, if desired, may be obtained by peaceful means. Therein," the justices concluded, "lies the security of the Republic." In DeJonge v. Oregon, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized assembly as a right incorporated, or included, in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as a limit on state power.

Four decades later, the right of assembly faced another test, but this time the challenge was more difficult. It involved a group who sought to parade its message of hate before an especially vulnerable population. The question at issue was simple: did the Constitution protect neo-Nazis who viciously taunted elderly Holocaust survivors?

Frank Collins was the son of Max Cohen, a Jewish survivor of Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp. He was also the leader of the National Socialist Party of America. Frank Collins, in short, was a neo-Nazi. He led a party of about fifty members who goose-stepped about their Chicago headquarters, dressed in brown-shirted uniforms and black boots. They were a ragtag group of anti-Jew and antiblack hate-mongers who worshiped Adolf Hitler and proclaimed the resurrection of the Third Reich.

Few people gave them much notice. The American Jewish Committee kept tabs on the group but considered it politically impotent and capable only of spewing vicious propaganda. Even a Nazi publication in Europe called its American members "dead-beats, right wing kooks, and religious nuts." But in 1978, it would have been difficult to find anyone in Skokie, Illinois, who shared this view. This Chicago suburb had a substantial Jewish population, including more than six hundred survivors of the Holocaust. Many residents were either related to or knew one or more of these survivors. The World War II death camps of Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, and Auschwitz were not names in a history book to the citizens of Skokie. They were painful memories.

When Collins sought a permit to hold a rally in a Skokie city park, government officials told him he would have to get a $350,000 bond; they knew he could not satisfy this requirement. In response, he planned to assemble his followers in front of the village hall, wearing full Nazi uniform, and hand out literature protesting the infringement of his right to speak. The village council wanted to ignore the group, but the Jewish community was adamantly opposed and convinced the council to block the rally, even though many Jewish organizations, such as B'nai B'rith, normally were strong supporters of free expression.

"These weren't ideas being discussed," the village attorney argued in response to newspaper inquiries. "The swastika was not an expression of free speech. It amounted to an assault [on the Holocaust survivors]."

The Skokie council passed three ordinances to put their case on firmer footing, including bans on hate literature and demonstrations by persons wearing military-style uniforms.When the village used these ordinances to stop the Nazi rally, Collins enlisted help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It was a difficult moment for the ACLU. It abhorred the Nazis' rants, but it believed even their hate-filled speech and rallies fell under the protection of the First Amendment. If government could stop a Nazi demonstration, it also could stop a Jewish one, the civil liberties organization argued.

By now the case was receiving national attention, and lower state courts tried vainly to find a way through the emotionally charged battlefield. The Illinois Appellate Court, citing a U.S. Supreme Court approval of a criminal conviction for "fighting words" or words likely to provoke a fight, ruled that the Nazis could march but only in clothing stripped of the swastika. But the state supreme court reversed the lower court's decision: the ban on the demonstration violated the First Amendment. The federal district court upheld the ban; the ordinances were invalid. Acknowledging that it was tempting to look for an exception to the guarantee of free speech and assembly in this instance, the court decided that "it was better to allow those who preach racial hate to expend their venom in rhetoric than to be panicked into embarking on a dangerous course of permitting the government to decide what its citizens must say and hear." The Supreme Court refused to hear the case, which meant it left intact the lower court's ruling that "the freedom of thought carries with it the freedom to speak and to publicly assemble to express one's thought." These rights were at the heart of democratic government.

Collins revived his plan to demonstrate, but now he faced a massive counter-demonstration announced by his opponents. Seizing an opportunity to save face, the neo-Nazi leader changed his mind and shifted his rally to an all-white suburb of Chicago to avoid what he called "a mob of howling creatures." He also announced a demonstration in downtown Chicago. Both events proved to be anticlimactic: the downtown rally drew twenty-five Nazi demonstrators, two thousand police, and far more people who screamed their opposition. The suburban demonstration attracted more than two hundred Nazi sympathizers, but they too were outnumbered by police and vocal opponents. With all the noise, few people at either event heard Collins's speeches. Within minutes, the spectacles were over.

Following the rallies, representatives from Skokie's religious bodies held an interfaith memorial service in memory of the Holocaust victims. Soon life in the village returned to normal, but with one major difference. The opponents of hate realized they were victorious after all. The Holocaust survivors, the village attorney noted, "felt that now they finally had stood up to a symbol and that they had defeated it." True to its promise, freedom of assembly, in the end, had promoted the cause of truth.

The right of assembly appears in the same amendment with other basic rights of democracy-the freedoms of religion, speech, press, and petition. We consider these rights fundamental because they allow citizens to express their views and participate freely in government without subscribing to certain beliefs or belonging to approved parties. The protection of assembly differs from the other rights in its wording, however. It is the only one in the First Amendment that has an adverb attached to it-"peaceably." It also implicitly contains another guarantee, the right to associate freely.

In many ways the right to associate with anyone for legitimate, or noncriminal, purposes has been more controversial-and more at risk-than the right to assemble peacefully. Dirk DeJonge's case in 1937 was as much about his membership in the Communist party as it was about his right to rally his fellow dockworkers to support a labor union. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, widespread fear of communism led Congress to pass laws requiring the Communist party and other so-called radical groups to register with the federal government. Congressional committees, most notably one headed by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, conducted investigations into alleged communist activity in government, the entertainment industry, and elsewhere. Actors, teachers, writers, and others who refused to testify about their associations, even when citing their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, soon found their names on "blacklists" that prevented them from working.

The Supreme Court initially ruled that Congress could limit the right of association for communists because of the group's announced desire to overthrow the government. Four justices dissented strongly, however, warning that this action placed the nation in danger of tyranny. Banning people from associating because of their ideas, the minority argued, made the First Amendment's protection of speech and assembly meaningless. Soon the Court began to reconsider its position. In a series of cases in the 1960s, it reversed the earlier ruling, and by 1967 it had decided that the freedom of association, part of the right of assembly, even allowed communists to work in the nation's defense plants.

Other cases during this period made it clear why the right of association was vital to democratic government. During the struggles for civil rights in the 1950s, state governments in Alabama and Arkansas tried to compel anti-segregation groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to reveal their membership lists.

This Court has recognized the vital relationship between freedom to associate and privacy in one's associations . . . Inviolability of privacy in group association may in many circumstances be indispensable to preservation of freedom of association, particularly where a group espouses dissident beliefs.

Justice John Marshall Harlan II, NAACP v. Alabama (1958)

The organizations refused. Making these names public would subject their members to harassment and violence, they claimed-and their fears were not without reason, as events throughout the South tragically revealed.The Supreme Court unanimously upheld these refusals. The right to associate for peaceful purposes, as well as the right to keep these associations private, were protected by the First Amendment. This right was implicit, or included, in the right of assembly.

Today, the freedoms of assembly and association continue to be contested rights. As a society, we have embraced these freedoms as necessary for a vital democratic government, but we disagree on the balance between these rights and the legitimate protection of public safety or promotion of public order. Free expression generally, including free assembly and association, must follow laws regulating health, safety, and welfare of the general public, such as regulations on traffic, litter, noise abatement, and use of private property. At times, the interests of public safety and the rights of assembly and association may be in conflict-for example, keeping picketers a safe distance away from an abortion clinic or enacting a curfew or anti-loitering laws-and it is in these cases we struggle to find the right balance. The events since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have also called into question how far the right of association extends. Illegal and criminal associations clearly are not protected, but it is not easy to identify which associations threaten national security and which do not.

Our history provides the best assurance of the worth of free assembly and association to our society. The ability to come together voluntarily has produced changes we now consider essential to a healthy democracy. Associations of powerful voices have called for the inclusion of women and blacks in our political process; groups have pushed successfully for the end to segregation and wars; demonstrations have reminded us to safeguard our natural environment; and organizations have worked tirelessly for improved health, education, working conditions, and public safety in neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the nation. Most important, the rights of assembly and association have given meaning to the right of free expression, which ultimately is a catalyst for change.

The right to speak as an individual is a prerequisite for self-government, but it is our ability to act together that makes it possible for self-government to improve our lives and extend our freedom.We should not fear the opinion that disagrees with us. If we insist on harmony in our society, we deny human nature and we also deny the potential of liberty to produce greater good. "Conformity," President John Kennedy reminded us, "is the jailor of freedom." When we guarantee the right of assembly and association, no matter how unpopular the cause, we are in fact protecting our own liberty and our future as a free people.

The Power of Association

In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville, an aristocratic Frenchman, visited the United States to study its prison system. His classic work Democracy in America (1835) described the essential character of Americans and their government. Tocqueville believed the strength of the new nation was its voluntary associations, which the First Amendment right of assembly protected.

An association consists simply in the public assent which a number of individuals give to certain doctrines and in the engagement which they contract to promote in a certain manner the spread of these doctrines. The right of association in this fashion almost merges with freedom of the press, but societies thus formed possess more authority than the press. When an opinion is represented by a society, it necessarily assumes a more exact and explicit form. It numbers its partisans and engages them in its cause; they, on the other hand, become acquainted with one another. And their zeal is increased by their number. An association unites into one channel the efforts of divergent minds and urges them vigorously towards the one end which it clearly points out.

The second degree in the exercise of the right of association is the power of the meeting. When an association is allowed to establish centers of action at certain important points in the country, its activity is increased and its influence extended. Men have the opportunity of seeing one another; means of execution are combined; and opinions are maintained with a warmth and energy that written language can never attain.

Lastly, in the exercise of the right of political association there is a third degree: the partisans of an opinion may unite in electoral bodies and choose delegates to represent them in a central assembly. This is, properly speaking, the application of the representative system to a party . . .

The most natural privilege of man, next to the right of acting for himself, is that of combining his exertions with those of his fellow creatures and of acting in common with them. This right of association therefore appears to me almost as inalienable in its nature as the right of personal liberty.

"The Opportunity for Free Political Discussion"

In 1937, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Dirk DeJonge, who had been prosecuted under an Oregon statute that outlawed criminal syndicalism, or organizing to bring about a change in the form of government or in industrial ownership or control. DeJonge had helped to conduct a meeting organized by the Communist party to protest police shootings of striking workers. The meeting was peaceful, and the Oregon court had held that a person could be convicted for nothing more than participating in a party meeting. In reversing the conviction, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote in DeJonge v. Oregon (1937), "[P]eaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime." It was a major First Amendment case. The right to assemble peaceably was guaranteed against state interference by the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause.

Freedom of speech and of the press are fundamental rights which are safeguarded by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. The right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental . . . The First Amendment of the Federal Constitution expressly guarantees that right against abridgment by Congress. But explicit mention there does not argue exclusion elsewhere. For the right is one that cannot be denied without violating those fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all civil and political institutions-principles which the Fourteenth Amendment embodies in the general terms of its due process clause. . . .

These rights may be abused by using speech or press or assembly in order to incite to violence and crime. The people through their Legislatures may protect themselves against that abuse. But the legislative intervention can find constitutional justification only by dealing with the abuse. The rights themselves must not be curtailed. The greater the importance of safeguarding the community from incitements to the overthrow of our institutions by force and violence, the more imperative is the need to preserve inviolate the constitutional rights of free speech, free press and free assembly in order to maintain the opportunity for free political discussion, to the end that government may be responsive to the will of the people and that changes, if desired, may be obtained by peaceful means. Therein lies the security of the Republic, the very foundation of constitutional government.

It follows from these considerations that, consistently with the Federal Constitution, peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime. The holding of meetings for peaceable political action cannot be proscribed. Those who assist in the conduct of such meetings cannot be branded as criminals on that score. The question, if the rights of free speech and peaceable assembly are to be preserved, is not as to the auspices under which the meeting is held but as to its purpose; not as to the relations of the speakers, but whether their utterances transcend the bounds of the freedom of speech which the Constitution protects. If the persons assembling have committed crimes elsewhere, if they have formed or are engaged in a conspiracy against the public peace and order, they may be prosecuted for their conspiracy or other violation of valid laws. But it is a different matter when the State, instead of prosecuting them for such offenses, seizes upon mere participation in a peaceable assembly and a lawful public discussion as the basis for a criminal charge.

A Privilege of Citizenship

The Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) was a coalition of five labor unions that left the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1938 in order to boost pay and improve job conditions and security for workers in heavy industries, such as steel manufacturing. Its members included a number of communists who favored more aggressive policies than practiced by the older, more conservative unions of the AFL.

In 1937, the CIO began a campaign to promote its cause and enlist new members. Organizers often used public parks to their rallies, but in Jersey City, New Jersey, the mayor, Frank "Boss" Hague, used a city ordinance regulating the parks to prevent these meetings and the distribution of literature. The CIO sued in federal court, claiming that the ordinance violated the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly. In 1939, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld its claim. Justice Pierce Butler, the most conservative justice on the Court, wrote the opinion in Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization (1939), which ruled that the right of assembly was a right of national citizenship and therefore protected under the Fourteenth Amendment from abridgment by the states.

Although it has been held that the Fourteenth Amendment created no rights in citizens of the United States, but merely secured existing rights against state abridgment, it is clear that the right peaceably to assemble and to discuss these topics, and to communicate respecting them, whether orally or in writing, is a privilege inherent in citizenship of the United States which the Amendment protects . . .

Citizenship of the United States would be little better than a name if it did not carry with it the right to discuss national legislation and the benefits, advantages, and opportunities to accrue to citizens therefrom. All of the respondents' proscribed activities had this single end and aim . . .

What has been said demonstrates that, in the light of the facts found, privileges and immunities of the individual respondents as citizens of the United States, were infringed by the petitioners, by virtue of their official positions, under color of ordinances of Jersey City, unless, as petitioners contend, the city's ownership of streets and parks is as absolute as one's ownership of his home, with consequent power altogether to exclude citizens from the use thereof, or unless, though the city holds the streets in trust for public use, the absolute denial of their use to the respondents is a valid exercise of the police power . . .

Wherever the title of streets and parks may rest, they have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions. Such use of the streets and public places has, from ancient times, been a part of the privileges, immunities, rights, and liberties of citizens. The privilege of a citizen of the United States to use the streets and parks for communication of views on national questions may be regulated in the interest of all; it is not absolute, but relative, and must be exercised in subordination to the general comfort and convenience, and in consonance with peace and good order; but it must not, in the guise of regulation, be abridged or denied.

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Chapter 8: The Right to Freedom of Assembly - Annenberg Classroom

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Every day and at all ages, we come together voluntarily in civic groups, religious institutions, benevolence societies, sports leagues, service societies, and school clubs, among thousands of other organizations. In doing so, we exercise the fundamental freedoms of assembly and association, rights protected by the First Amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law .

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The 2020 election season has come with its share of twists and turns. IllinoisCivics.org is committed to supporting classrooms in processing the election. Below are resources to help address common questions you and your students might have at this critical juncture in the history of our republic.

What are some strategies I can use to discuss the election and its aftermath with my students?

An IllinoisCivics.org blog post from October 2020 shared resources from Teaching Tolerance, Facing History and Ourselves, Project Zero, iCivics, and more to help classrooms reflect, revisit norms, and have ongoing civil dialogue about the election.

How Are Ballots Counted?

New Hampshire Public Radio Civics 101 recently created a mini-podcast episode to give an overview of the process.

What happens before, during, and after votes are cast to ensure free and fair elections?

Facing History and Ourselves has an explainer describing the essential steps taken throughout the election process.

What's the Timeline for Each State to Count Their Ballots?

FiveThirtyEight created a resource about when to expect election results in every state. You can also visit the website to see the latest returns.

What are the Deadlines for Election Results to be Finalized?

Street Law created an infographic explaining what happens between the 78 days between election day and inauguration day.

How do News Outlets Determine When to Project a Winner?

PBS Newshour Extra created a mini-lesson, How do news outlets decide when to call a winner?

How can I provide my students with a deeper understanding of the Electoral College?

The IllinoisCivics.org Election 2020 Toolkit has a plethora of resources classrooms can use to explore how the Electoral College works.

How can I help students understand how the peaceful transfer of power is designed to work?

iCivics designed an infographic around the Peaceful Transfer of Power and the Bill of Rights Institute published this timely lesson on Contentious Elections and the Peaceful Transfer of Power.

How has the Supreme Court of the United States been involved in the election up to now?

Street Law has created a timeline of SCOTUS cases in the 2020 elections.

What role might the courts play in settling election results?

The ABA Division for Public Education has partnered with Dr. Steven D. Schwinn, Professor of Law at the University of Illinois at Chicago John Marshall Law school to provide timely updates for teachers on their YouTube channel.

What supports are available for teachers in this ongoing election season?

A series of post-election webinars are available for viewing in the Webinar Archive. Each webinar has an accompanying blog with resources.

The Teaching for Democracy Alliance hosted a Social Studies Chat on Twitter that is archived with resources shared.

Many of our civic learning partners are hosting professional development opportunities for teachers. Visit the Professional Development Calendar to find out more.

Did the youth vote make a difference?

Our friends at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) are analyzing the data and updating their Election Week 2020 documenting youth turnout and impact in battleground states daily.

What does it mean to be a "lame duck"?

A recent Civics 101 Podcast has a brief explainer of what it means to be a "lame duck."
C-SPAN Classroom has a bell-ringer activity to start the conversation using a political cartoon.

What is a concession speech?

Civics 101 Podcast breaks down the components of a concession speech.

Politico provides video clips of past concession speeches from both sides of the aisle while Poynter provides an overview of The Art of the Concession Speech and why they are important.

How does the transition between presidents work?

How do Presidential Pardons Work?

The Bill of Rights Institute has an e-lesson, Mr. President, Pardon Me that explores the foundations of the presidential pardon in the U.S. Constitution, as well as how and why this power has been exercised throughout history.

iCivics has a mini-lesson on the Pardon Power that also explores commutations and the limitations on these presidential powers.

C-Span Classroom has a lesson on pardons with historical video clips.

How can I address questions related to voter fraud and voter suppression?

What does the President's Cabinet do? How does one become a member of the Cabinet?

Civics 101 Podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio has an episode that explains the role of the Cabinet. They also have an Executive Branch Starter Kit with a mnemonic device students can use to learn the executive departments in order of creation.

KQED has a lesson plan about the President's Cabinet.

A Very Big Branch from iCivics helps students learn how the executive departments and agencies regulate and enforce governmental policies, and they explore the roles and responsibilities of the presidential cabinet.

C-Span Classroom has a Bell Ringer about the Role of the President's Cabinet.

Politico, the Washington Post, and The New York Times all recently did pieces speculating who might serve in President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet.

What is a "faithless elector?"

The Bill of Rights Institute has created a lesson plan, "Faithless Electors and Electing the Executive" that has students explore the processes used to select members of the Electoral College and analyze the responsibilities of electors in our election system.

Street Law has resources for students to explore the recent SCOTUS case Chiafalo v. Washington. This case challenged a Washington State "faithless elector" fine.

What is the significance of the first 100 days of a presidency?

For over two centuries, American political offices have peacefully transferred power after every election. Use this infographic from iCivics to show students how precedent, tradition, and legitimacy have helped create this democratic norm. Consider the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and why it is important to a democratic form of government.

The FDR Library provides a historical perspective of the first 100 days of a presidency during times of crisis.

The History Channel has "fast facts" on the "First 100 Days."

How does Washington's First 100 Days stack up against his successors? This lesson from Mt. Vernon helps students explore this question.

This 4 minute interview from NPR answers listener questions about the importance of a president's first 100 days.

What are resources to engage students in the upcoming inauguration?

ADL shares seven ideas for teaching about the inauguration.

EDSITEment has a lesson plan, Presidential Inaugurations: I do solemnly swear, that helps students reflect on what the Presidential inauguration has become and what it has been, while they meet a host of memorable historical figures and uncover a sense of America's past through archival materials.

Teacher Vision has resources highlighting Inaugural Poetry.

What role does Congress play in settling Electoral College disputes?

What resources are available to help classrooms process the recent violence at the U.S. capitol?

Facing History and Ourselves created a Teaching Idea: Responding to Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol with strategies to support educators and students.

The Social Studies Chat Network hosted a special discussion where educators crowdsourced resources for classroom use.

The Bill of Rights Institute created a playlist of resources considering principles, processes, and examples of constitutionally guided transitions of power.

Share My Lesson from AFT has curated video clips and lesson plans to help facilitate meaningful discussions with students and communities about the attempt of a mob to infiltrate the capital and impede election certification in Washington, DC, and to put a focus on how crucial the foundations of democracy are to the preservation of a functional government.

Three ways to teach the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol from PBS News Hour Extra includes video, text, and discussion questions.

What is the significance of the 25th Amendment?

Resources to help students understand terms such as insurrection, sedition, treason, and coups

For further reading about helping students process the results of the election, consider the following:

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The 2020 election season has come with its share of twists and turns. IllinoisCivics.org is committed to supporting classrooms in processing the election. Below are resources to help address common questions you and your students might have at this critical juncture in the history of our republic.

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Teaching Literacy Through History: Headlines on Sep. 12th, 2001

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Teaching Literacy Through History: Headlines on Sep. 12th, 2001

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Learn about the text, history, and meaning of the U.S. Constitution from leading scholars of diverse legal and philosophical perspectives.

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Historians.org: On the Peaceful Transition of Power

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Historians.org: On the Peaceful Transition of Power

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John Adams chased the dawn right out of Washington, DC, departing the half-built city shortly after four o'clock in the morning on March 4, 1801. He knew it was time to go. In a battering election that pitted Adams against his friend-turned-rival Thomas Jefferson, the New England Federalist suffered a humiliating and life-changing defeat. His popular predecessor, George Washington, swung into a second term easily. But the rules of the game had changed: Adams faced violent factionalism from within his administration, a seething press, rampant electioneering, and the eruption of party politics.

To many, Adams's track record in office was controversial at best, thanks to the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts and an unpopular foreign policy with France. While the second president summered at his farm in Quincy, Massachusetts, Alexander Hamilton and a newly minted corps of campaigners trawled for votes. Fanning out across cities and towns, they set political fires in the local press that blazed across the very states Adams needed to win, and wouldn't. He watched from afar, loathing the campaign tactics taking root. "If my administration cannot be defended by the intrinsic merit of my measures & by my own authority, may it be damned," he wrote to his son Thomas Boylston Adams in late August. The elder Adams held strong opinions on elections, informed by his close study of classical republics and Renaissance state formation. He hoped to be known as the 18th-century ideal of a disinterested public servant, so a hard loss at the polls meant one thing: Transfer power peacefully to a new president, thereby safeguarding the office and the nation it served.

The election of 1800 did not invent this idea, but it did engrave America into history as a democracy. Both men vying for the presidency would have known Plato's caution. Democracies thrived on the verge of oligarchy, and executive power-embodied by either president or king-risked turning into tyranny the longer its tenure. When did John Adams know his presidency was over, and what did he do about it? In the most technical sense, he lived (awkwardly) with the impending loss of power from December 1800, when key electoral votes failed to tip his way. He was not eager to stick around and watch the next inauguration.

Adams was not eager to stick around and watch the next inauguration.

Nor was his family. Abigail Adams sat down to her last supper with Thomas Jefferson in January 1801, on a night when neither of them knew whether he would serve next. They shared " a curious conversation." Jefferson despaired of a partisan Congress, adding that he found "more candor and liberality upon one side than there is upon the other." Abigail pushed back, observing that, "Some are mere Brutes, others are Gentlemen-but party Spirit, is a blind spirit." When Jefferson fished for a comment on her husband's political loss, Abigail demurred. They shared a low laugh. In private, Abigail gave her view of Jefferson's incoming administration with customary frankness: "His prospect is not a summer sea." Like John, she began packing for home. Reactions to the election ran hotter beyond the Adams-Jefferson bubble of the Capitol grounds. A general mood of crisis and fear of disunion plagued the press, as the US House of Representatives took six days and 36 ballots before breaking Jefferson's deadlock with Aaron Burr. With the democratic machinery intact, lawmakers turned to electoral reform.

Historians can read plenty of pointed lessons in the presidential election of 1800. It is the revolution after the Revolution. It marks the birth of a party system and the visible decay of Federalist power. It shows a critical exercise of constitutional force by each branch of government, conducted under scrutiny and at great cost. It is a surprisingly uncivil brawl between two aging revolutionaries, their long friendship soured by party politics. But to citizens like Margaret Bayard Smith, the American author and political commentator, the day of Jefferson's inauguration underscored the durability of American democracy. Raised in a Federalist household and married to a Democratic-Republican newspaper editor, Smith savored the shift. "I have this morning witnessed one of the most interesting scenes, a free people can ever witness," she wrote. "The changes of administration, which in every government and in every age have most generally been epochs of confusion, villainy and bloodshed, in this our happy country take place without any species of distraction, or disorder." For Adams and Jefferson alike, the driving need to sustain the fledgling democracy and preserve union overrode party demands.

The driving need to sustain the fledgling democracy and preserve union overrode party demands.

The chief significance of the election of 1800, as Smith rightly identified it, was the peaceful transfer of power between two parties. As he battled through personal and professional defeats in 1800 and 1801, using " midnight appointments" to sculpt a Federalist judiciary as his legacy, John Adams reflected that the election of 1800 was about far more than two men trading power, or knowing when to let go. Rather, an election was the country's best mirror. "In short one half the Nation has analyzed itself, within 18 months, past and the other will analyze itself in 18 months more," he wrote to Abigail on November 15, 1800. "By that time the Nation if it has any Eyes, will see itself in a Glass. I hope it will not have reason to be too much disgusted with its own Countenance." In his last look around the presidential office, John Adams weighed Jefferson's challenges with unique appreciation. Then, quietly, he returned power to where it rightfully rests-with the people.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Attribution must provide author name, article title, Perspectives on History, date of publication, and a link to this page. This license applies only to the article, not to text or images used here by permission.

The American Historical Association welcomes comments in the discussion area below, at AHA Communities, and in letters to the editor. Please read our commenting and letters policy before submitting.

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John Adams chased the dawn right out of Washington, DC, departing the half-built city shortly after four o'clock in the morning on March 4, 1801. He knew it was time to go. In a battering election that pitted Adams against his friend-turned-rival Thomas Jefferson, the New England Federalist suffered a humiliating and life-changing defeat.

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Street Law: Election Day to Inauguration Day

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Street Law: Election Day to Inauguration Day

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What happens in the 78 days between Election Day and Inauguration day? This resource distills key facts and dates into a one-page timeline graphic. It also includes a longer accompanying document detailing what will happen (and what could happen) between Election Day 2020 and Inauguration Day 2021.

A printed poster version of this graphic is available for purchase.

Additional details:

Format: downloadable .pdf (You must create an account and "check out" to download free resources. You will not be required to provide payment information.)

© 2020 Street Law, Inc. Free for non-commercial educational use. Permissions questions? Email ip@streetlaw.org

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Election Day to Inauguration Day: What Happens in Those 78 Days?

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Hi, we're Street Law. Since 1972, we've been hard at work in communities and schools across the country and around the globe, developing programs and teaching materials that educate people about law and government.

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Street Law: Symbols of Principles of Democracy

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Street Law: Symbols of Principles of Democracy

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In this introductory lesson, students explore the elements or principles that must be present in a country in order for democracy to thrive. Students will:

Define and describe through visual art at least one principle of democracy.

Rate their country on specific principles.

Explain the role of a citizen in supporting the health of a democracy.

Gain a deeper understanding of the principles of democracy and why they are important.

Street Law suggests that teachers teach this lesson before doing our deliberation that explores "Is the United States' democracy healthy?"

Additional details:

Format: downloadable PDF (You must create an account and "check out" to download free resources. You will not be required to provide payment information.)

© 2011 Deliberating in a Democracy in the Americas. Excerpted and adapted from Democracy for All, © 1994 by Street Law, Inc. and Street Law South Africa. Free for non-commercial educational use. Permissions questions? Email ip@streetlaw.org

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Symbols for Principles of Democracy Lesson Plan

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Hi, we're Street Law. Since 1972, we've been hard at work in communities and schools across the country and around the globe, developing programs and teaching materials that educate people about law and government.

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Street Law: Deliberation Materials (HS Level)

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Street Law: Deliberation Materials (HS Level)

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Is the United States' democracy healthy? This activity includes a deliberation reading and glossary, as well as accompanying handouts to give students additional information on the topic and to guide them through the deliberation process from planning to reflection.

Deliberation teaches people how to discuss controversial issues by carefully considering multiple perspectives and searching for consensus. In preparation for deliberations, all participants read common, balanced background information on the issue. During the discourse, they offer arguments for each position on a contested public issue, first drawing from the text and then bringing in their own experiences.

Note: Street Law suggests teaching the Symbols for Principles of Democracy lesson plan prior to deliberating this topic.

Additional details:

Format: multiple downloadable PDFs (You must create an account and "check out" to download free resources. You will not be required to provide payment information.)

© 2019 Street Law, Inc. Free for non-commercial educational use. Permissions questions? Email ip@streetlaw.org

This deliberation was developed with financial support from the Longview Foundation.

Learn more about Street Law, Inc. professional development opportunities related to Deliberations and more!

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Deliberation Materials: Democracy (High School Level)

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Hi, we're Street Law. Since 1972, we've been hard at work in communities and schools across the country and around the globe, developing programs and teaching materials that educate people about law and government.

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When tragic events happen, it can be difficult for educators, administrators, and parents to know how to help children understand and cope. How adults manage their own reactions, as well as how they help students deal with their questions and feelings, are important factors in providing children with the support and guidance they will need. Below are some useful, informative, and thoughtful resources for adults to help children through traumatic situations. Some of these resources are relevant to parents as well as educators.

Addressing Trauma and Grief at Home and in the Classroom

Tips for Talking to Kids About Trauma: The Greater Good Science Center produced this resource following the Paris attacks; it includes helpful information for starting a dialogue with children following traumatic events. You'll find tips for helping students express themselves as well as a list of outside resources for helping children respond to grief and trauma.

Resources for Responding to Trauma and Tragedy: This collection from Edutopia features resources in a variety of areas, including trauma's effect on learning, supporting students who have experienced trauma, and more. There are links to Edutopia content and also articles and guides from around the web.

A Teachers' Guide for Managing Emotional Reactions to Traumatic Events: The National Association of School Psychologists produced this guide for responding to traumatic events in the classroom. You'll find strategies and tips for talking with students of all ages, with different guides for various age groups. Teachers will learn how to model coping strategies for students, and there's a wealth of useful information about monitoring students' emotions.

Helping Young Children Cope With Trauma: This downloadable PDF from the American Red Cross features a brief overview of how children of different age levels react to tragic events. A tips list details how families can respond and includes advice for when to seek professional help.

A Comprehensive Guide for Talking With Kids About the News From PBS Parents: There are many useful strategies for discussing tragedy with children in this guide. Parents will find a list of strategies for listening and talking to help young people communicate their feelings and strategies to help soothe and reassure children. There are age-specific strategies and discussion starters.

Resources for Managing Child Traumatic Stress: This is an exhaustive collection of information for helping children through a variety of stressful and traumatic situations. Produced by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, these resources are arranged by topic with guides, explanations, tips, and advice in each section. Additionally, NCTSN's Parenting in a Challenging World collection features tips relevant to parents.

Resources for Grieving Children and Families: From the New York Life Foundation and various partners, this site has a variety of resources for children, teens, and families responding to tragedy. Included are links to resources from the foundation's partners, including Sesame Street Workshop, Scholastic, and Camp Erin, as well as outside links to useful resources.

Responding to Natural Disaster

Helping Children Cope With Natural Disaster and Catastrophe: Bright Horizons produced this helpful guide, "What Happened to My World," which offers assistance to parents and adults who want to talk to young people about natural disasters and the effects on communities. Bright Horizon's guide provides powerful tips for working with children of any age and strategies for offering honest, reassuring answers to their questions.

Helping Children After a Natural Disaster -- Information for Parents and Teachers: This is a comprehensive resource from the National Association of School Psychologists. It's part preparation guide, part crisis-response resource. This guides features strategies for responding to a variety of disasters and for helping children cope. (Note: This is just one resource from the NASP; the organization hosts a wealth of resources online for many different situations.)

More Resources for Responding to Tragedy From Edutopia

More Resources From Around the Web

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Responding to Tragedy: Resources for Educators and Parents

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When tragic events happen, it can be difficult for educators, administrators, and parents to know how to help children understand and cope. How adults manage their own reactions, as well as how they help students deal with their questions and feelings, are important factors in providing children with the support and guidance they will need.

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"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

Farewell Address | Saturday, September 17, 1796

Editorial Notes

Washington is warning the American people against the negative impact that opposing political parties could have on the country. During his presidency he witnessed the rise of the Democratic-Republican party in opposition to the Federalists and worried that future political squabbles would undermine the concept of popular sovereignty in the United States.
Farewell Address | Saturday, September 17, 1796

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Farewell Address - Saturday, September 17, 1796

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"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

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Freedom of Assembly: National Socialist Party v. Skokiex

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Freedom of Assembly: National Socialist Party v. Skokiex

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Freedom of Assembly: National Socialist Party v. Skokie

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The History & Civics Project: Discord and Crisis 2020 Election

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The History & Civics Project: Discord and Crisis 2020 Election

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Session 2 - Discord and Crisis Slide Deck.pdf

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National Geographic: The 1876 Election was the Most Divisive in American History

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National Geographic: The 1876 Election was the Most Divisive in American History

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On January 6, the U.S. Congress will convene to count and certify the results of the Electoral College vote, the last step to formally naming Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. But Republican members from both houses of Congress, many with presidential ambitions of their own, have announced they intend to contest the results.

Under pressure from President Donald Trump, and despite the fact that the Department of Justice has found no evidence of voter fraud, one faction of Republican legislators is calling for an investigation into the president's fraud allegations before the vote is counted-and invoking an extraordinary 144-year-old compromise as a model.

"In 1877, Congress did not ignore those allegations [of fraud]," wrote Texas Senator Ted Cruz and 10 other senators in a joint statement. "We should follow that precedent."

But what is that precedent, and could it really apply in 2021? To find out means delving into the unsavory history of an election that, until 2020, was deemed the nation's most divisive-and that led to an unusual compromise with weighty consequences. Here's what you need to know about the 1876 election and why it still looms large in American history.

A nation united, but still divided

In 1876, the nation was still scarred and divided by the Civil War, which had ended a decade earlier. During the war's aftermath, approximately four million enslaved people were freed. In what would become known as the Reconstruction era, a Republican-controlled Congress moved swiftly to restore the former Confederacy to the Union, limit the political power of former Confederates, and protect the rights of formerly enslaved people by granting them citizenship and the right to vote.

Newly enfranchised Black voters overwhelmingly supported the Republican Party, the party of President Abraham Lincoln and a critical force behind the Union's Civil War victory. They registered to vote in large numbers and ran for and were elected to public office.

But as Black citizens gained political and social power in the late 1860s, white Southerners, who largely supported the anti-Reconstruction Democratic Party, resented the federal government's policies. Reconstruction represented what they saw as the theft of their rightful dominance of the racial, political, and economic hierarchy. In an attempt to wrest back their power, they used intimidation and violence to disenfranchise Black voters.

Then, in the early 1870s, the Republican Party's popularity took a hit due to an economic depression and political scandals like the Whiskey Ring, a bribery scheme in which federal officials helped whiskey distillers evade taxes. Between the Republicans' tarnished reputation and the intimidating tactics that allowed white Southerners to suppress Republican votes, Democrats finally saw a path to electoral victory.

Although the stage was set for a dirty election, both 1876 candidates were solid, sensible, and seemingly above reproach. The Republican candidate, war hero and Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes, ran on a reform platform, promising to clean up the civil service and serve for only one term. His opponent, Democrat and New York governor Samuel J. Tilden, was known for challenging political corruption.

At the time, though, candidates let their party operatives promote them, and they staged a cutthroat campaign. Tilden's opponents painted him as a diseased drunkard who planned to pay off the former Confederacy's debts; Hayes's enemies claimed he had stolen money from his brothers in arms during the war. Election Day was even worse: Both parties participated in rampant fraud. Republican operatives stuffed ballot boxes, allowed repeat votes, and threw out Democratic ballots; Democrats physically intimidated Black voters in an attempt to keep them from the polls. (Voter fraud used to be rampant. Now it's an anomaly.)

When the votes were counted, it appeared that Tilden had garnered 200,000 more votes than Hayes. But results were unclear in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, where both parties claimed victory-and alleged tampering. Republican-led state election boards in those three states rejected enough Democratic votes to give Hayes a chance at victory through the Electoral College, despite his opponent's three-point lead in the popular vote. The states convened dueling slates of electors and sent conflicting returns to Congress.

Meanwhile, in Oregon, where Hayes had won the popular vote, the Democratic governor claimed one of the state's three Republican electors was ineligible because he was employed by the postal service. (Federal employees are not allowed to serve as members of the Electoral College.) As a result, the state submitted two competing certificates of the final electoral vote tally, one signed by the Democratic governor that showed two votes for Hayes and one for Tilden, and another signed by the secretary of state that showed three votes for Hayes.

A total of 20 Electoral College votes-four from Florida, eight from Louisiana, seven from South Carolina, and one from Oregon-were contested. It would be up to Congress to sort out the mess. (Here's what happens if there isn't a winner on Election Day.)

Democrats were furious about what they saw as the Republicans' theft of the Southern states. Henry Watterson, a journalist and Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, used his platform to call for a "peaceful army of 100,000 men" to march on Washington unless Tilden was declared the winner, stoking fears of a second Civil War.

Faced with fears of violence and a deadlock between the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled Senate, Congress struggled to find a solution. The Constitution offered no clear guidance about how to deal with a contested electoral vote, and members suggested and bitterly rejected a variety of proposals.

Time was ticking. The inauguration was scheduled for March 5, 1877, and the legislators didn't hit on a solution until late January. Finally, they reached a compromise: a one-time commission consisting of an equal number of House and Senate lawmakers, four Supreme Court justices, and an additional justice selected by the participating Supreme Court members. Although multiple Republicans objected to the measure, it passed and outgoing President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Electoral Commission Act on January 29.

An unprecedented commission

The electoral commission conducted a court-style tribunal in the Supreme Court chamber in February 1877. Though the Democrats objected to the vote counts put forward by the Southern states' Republican electoral boards, they were outnumbered by their Republican colleagues by one and were consistently overruled. Each contested state was decided in favor of Hayes. Yet the Democrats refused to accept the results and filibustered in the House of Representatives as fear of civil unrest grew throughout the nation.

It would take a backroom deal-and a momentous political compromise-to settle the election. During a series of secretive meetings, Southern Democratic lawmakers promised to call off the filibuster and concede the election in exchange for an end to Reconstruction. Though the terms of the informal agreement remain unknown, it is thought to have included the withdrawal of all federal forces from the former Confederacy, increased federal funds for Southern states, the construction of a transcontinental railroad through the South, and the appointment of a Southern Democrat to Hayes's cabinet.

In the wee hours of March 2, 1877, a mere three days before the scheduled inauguration, Congress completed the electoral vote count. Hayes won by a single electoral vote. Amid fear of assassination, he was sworn in during a secret ceremony the next day.

The controversial Compromise of 1877 was lauded by many at the time as a move that preserved the fragile Union and allowed the country to move forward as one. But it had disastrous consequences for Black Southerners. Without federal oversight, states created harsh "Jim Crow" laws that reestablished a brutal racial hierarchy in the South and effectively disenfranchised Black citizens. (Voter suppression has haunted America since it was founded.)

A decade after the Hayes-Tilden election was finally decided, Congress passed the Electoral Count Act of 1887 in an attempt to avoid further electoral chaos by providing a consistent system for the delivery of electoral votes.

The law, which still stands today, provides a mechanism by which Congress can determine whether electoral votes are legal: During the joint session of Congress on January 6, members can object to the votes of individual electors or states' overall returns. For an objection to be formally considered and voted upon, it must be lodged by both a member of the House and the Senate. That has only happened twice in history, and both objections failed.

Will Republican lawmakers' calls for an 1877-style commission change the outcome of the election? Don't count on it, say legal and historical experts. The 2020 election didn't result in a close electoral vote. More than 50 court actions challenging the legitimacy of the returns have been rejected. And though the Republican Party has attempted to submit a dueling slate of electors in five states, they were not certified and thus were not passed to Congress as official electoral slates.

Although Congressional Republicans have sufficient numbers to object to the returns and force a debate on the issue, their effort is destined to fail. Enough of their Republican colleagues have signaled their opposition to the last-ditch effort to overturn the electors' votes, and are expected to vote in favor of certifying the election.

Nor is a proposed gambit for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results likely to succeed. Though President Trump falsely claims that Pence, who as president of the Senate will preside over the count, has the power to reject "fraudulently chosen" electors, the vice president in fact lacks that power. As president of the Senate, his job is merely to count the electoral votes-whether the President likes the outcome or not.

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The 1876 election was the most divisive in U.S. history. Here's how Congress responded.

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On January 6, the U.S. Congress will convene to count and certify the results of the Electoral College vote, the last step to formally naming Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. But Republican members from both houses of Congress, many with presidential ambitions of their own, have announced they intend to contest the results.

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Modern Civics Project: Creating Safe Space

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Modern Civics Project: Creating Safe Space

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This is a guest post by Mary Ellen Daneels. Mary Ellen is Lead teacher Mentor with the McCormick Foundation Democracy Program and a teacher at West Chicago Community High School.
This morning I awoke to a troubling Facebook post by a colleague of mine from the east coast. My friend is a well-respected, veteran educator who teaches high school social studies. He shared how there had been a fire drill the day before and in response, he froze. He directed his students to stay in their seats to make sure it was not a false alarm. One of his students responded, "yea, to make sure this ain't like Florida."

It was not a false alarm and eventually, the fire drill was completed. But, this teacher's response, and the response of his students was not an isolated event. Streams of educators throughout the nation responded to his post that they too experienced similar events in their school in the past week. One elementary teacher lamented that she told her 3rd graders that they were staying put until further confirmation during a fire safety exercise and one 8-year-old quickly agreed, "Yes because if an intruder pulled it, we'd all be going outside where it's not safe."

Early in my teaching career, one of my students was killed in a horrific traffic accident. Being a young teacher, I did not know how to respond to tragedy, it was left out of my teacher preparation program. Should I go on with the lesson at hand and avoid the topic altogether- thinking I might give my students (and myself) a respite from the loss, or should I address the grief we were all struggling with? I called my mentor for direction and he advised me to address the tragedy. He encouraged me that it not important that I have all of the answers, but it was imperative that I be present, open, listen and create a safe environment for my students to do the same. It was a heart -wrenching class, full of tears, memories and anger towards what we all felt was a preventable loss. After much discussion, the students launched a letter-writing campaign to local papers and elected officials demanding traffic lights be installed in the dangerous intersection that took their friend's life. Communicating their grief and taking informed action was a cathartic process.

As educators, we have a responsibility to prioritize our students' lived experiences in informing the essential questions we address in our curriculum. The proven practices mandated in the high school civics requirement as well as the new Illinois social studies standards support such endeavors. We must create civic spaces that engage students like current and controversial issue discussions that lead to students communicating conclusions and taking informed action ( service learning). The Parkland High School students and their peers from around the nation are not going away. They are demonstrating that civic engagement does not begin and end with voting at 18, but encompasses a wide variety of issues and strategies for taking informed action, from lobbying, to social media campaigns, to advocacy.

My story and that of my colleague also point to the fact that educators need support in addressing tragedy in the classroom. Here are some resources that I hope will be helpful.

How do you address tragedy in troubling times? What are some of the strategies and resources you can share with others? What questions remain? Please comment below. Together, we can empower the youngest members of our community for civic engagement.

This post was originally posted at Illinoiscivics.org. You have read the original post here. You can follow Mary Ellen twitter @daneels_m

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Creating Civic Spaces in Troubling Times - MODERN CIVICS PROJECT

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This is a guest post by Mary Ellen Daneels. Mary Ellen is Lead teacher Mentor with the McCormick Foundation Democracy Program and a teacher at West Chicago Community High School. This morning I awoke to a troubling Facebook post by a colleague of mine from the east coast.

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Slides to use in class: You need to click on the post, then click 'open in a new window'

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PBS: Obama Encouraged After First Meeting with Trump

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PBS: Obama Encouraged After First Meeting with Trump

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PBS NewsHour
Clip: 11/10/2016 | 3m 28s

On Thursday, President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump met at the White House to begin the transition between administrations. Each the object of one another's scorn just a few days before, the president said he was "encouraged" by the discussion and the president-elect said he looks forward to future collaboration with Mr. Obama and his team. John Yang reports.

Aired: 11/10/16

Rating: NR

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PBS NewsHour | Obama 'encouraged' by first transition meeting with Trump | Season 2016

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PBS NewsHour Clip: 11/10/2016 | 3m 28s On Thursday, President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump met at the White House to begin the transition between administrations. Each the object of one another's scorn just a few days before, the president said he was "encouraged" by the discussion and the president-elect said he looks forward to future collaboration with Mr. Obama and his team.