The Avalon Project
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
"The Avalon project will mount digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government..."
The Avalon project website, in association with Yale University, offers the visitor an interesting way to view and compare documents. The website's strongest, and most interesting feature lies in its design, which is the ability to view documents side by side for comparison. Utilizing frames, the visitor is able to compare many historical documents which serves to more easily view similarities and differences. This feature is an interesting, and helpful way to view these early documents.

Brown v. Board of Education Online Archives
http://www.lib.umich.edu/exhibits/brownarchive/index.html/
“Welcome to the University of Michigan Library’s Brown v. Board of Education Digital Archive. This archive contains documents and images which chronicle events surrounding this historically significant case up to the present.”
The emancipation of Southern slaves at the end of the Civil War presented the American judicial system with a new challenge: how to integrate African Americans into the social fabric. Since their freedom from bondage, African American citizens have constantly struggled against oppression. Their tools in this battle varied throughout the years. However, the twentieth century witnessed civil rights successes in the courtroom. Brown v. Board of Education Online Archives offers court summaries, Supreme Court decisions, text, court transcripts, and images. The material covers court cases beginning with Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) to Jennifer Gratz v. Lee Bollinger (2003). The information is accessible to a wide audience and highly reliable. Also, there are links that take the browser to various other civil rights websites.

Cases and Materials on American Federalism
http://www.agh-attorneys.com/3_camo_contents.htm
“These materials were developed for use in American Government and Public Policy courses taught at Purdue University Calumet…”
Cases and Materials on American Federalism, a website developed to assist students of Dr. Amber from Purdue University, offers a very thorough source of information to anyone researching the subject of American Federalism. This site is predominately textual, consisting of material from the Federalist Papers on to current presidential cases. On this site one can find sections of information pertaining to American Socio-Political Heritage, Our Constitutional Beginnings, The Consequences of Federalism, and Civil Liberties and Rights, etc. Because this site does have a lot of information, it would be best suited for in-depth research…

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation:
U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html
"The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress comprise a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation, the development of the federal government, and its role in the national life…”
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873, offers many good features for the visitor. A visitor can search through records from the Constitutional Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the 1st through 42nd Congresses: 1771-1873. Not limited to a simple search, one can also search specific titles like the Elliot’s Debates, Farrand’s Records, House Journals, Senate Journals, etc. This site is very easy to navigate and as the information is broken down into individual daily records it makes tracking down specific information quick.

Communicator
http://www.webcommunicator.org
"A Web-based newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to enhance civic education and improve the understanding of congress..."
Web Communicator as an online newsletter offers a variety of features for the educator, which would make it a good idea to subscribe to. As a part of the Dirksen Congressional Center, Communicator shares classroom uses of information posted on the other Dirksen sites (4). With an archives area, a "featured lesson plan" for educators, and a fun, facts, and trivia section, Web Communicator could be a useful tool in the classroom.

Continental Congress & Constitution: To form a more perfect Union
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/intro01.html
"...to make resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations..."
This government website offers much the same thing as other constitutional history websites. It does however offer areas overlooked, or not covered by other sites such as, Identifying Defects in the Confederation, and Creating a Constitution. This site also has primary source pictures with coinciding information, and for those looking for high-quality pictures for PowerPoint presentations or overhead displays, this site offers many of the pictures downloadable in .tiff format (very high quality, but also large in file size).

Exploring Constitutional Conflicts
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/home.html
"This site explores some of the great issues and controversies that surround our nations founding document…”
Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, by Doug Linder (professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City), is a very thorough (and interesting) site to visit. The main goal of this website is to provide the visitor with both case notes and materials from trials, etc. that concerned interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Some of the different areas covered on this website are the right to bear arms, the taking of property, student searches, and powers of congress under the original constitution. Along with providing the cases in our nation’s history that challenged these ideas, this site also lists key questions pertaining to the subject to assist in understanding the information.

First Amendment Center
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/
“Welcome to the First Amendment Center’s new Web site, featuring comprehensive research coverage of key First Amendment issues and topics, a unique First Amendment Library and guest analyses by respected legal specialists.”
Operated by the First Amendment Center, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, this site features excellent research coverage of key First Amendment issues and topics, as well as a library of related materials dealing with the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. The material on this site can be located, appropriately enough, under the First Amendment freedoms, with each of the 5 freedoms further broken down into “a number of subtopics, such as free speech on public college campuses, workplace religious liberty, blue laws, and the rights of prisoners.” This site would be tremendous addition to anyone teaching about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Guide to Law Online: United States Constitution
http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/usconst.html
Guide to Law Online, with the Law Library of Congress, has gathered nearly everything one would need regarding constitutional history into one place. Not only can one find text and analysis of the Constitution, but also historical texts such as the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence. Other areas of interest are the Influences section with such documents as France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and Greece’s Athenian Constitution by Aristotle. While many other websites have these documents, this site is unique in that all of them are located in one place, and in an easy to find manner.

Landmark Supreme Court Cases
http://www.landmarkcases.org/index.html
“This site was developed to provide teachers with a full range of resources and activities to support the teaching of landmark Supreme Court cases, helping students explore the key issues of each case.”
Diana Hess, Nancy McCullough, and Jennifer Brandsberg teamed up with Street Law and the Supreme Court Historical Society to create Landmark Supreme Court Cases. At this site, teachers and students can access primary documents, narratives, lesson plans, and reading activities. The material approaches the subject from multiple angles. The lessons on specific cases include multiple reading levels and are tailored to fit class sessions. If the instructor prefers teaching legal concepts, the site provides this material, as well. Some of the material is complex, and the website includes teaching strategies.

The Law Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/usconst.html
The Law Library of Congress, as seen with the website "Find Law for Legal Professionals," is very dry in its presentation of information. As the site offers very little in visual stimulation for students this site would probably best serve the educator in locating useful constitutional history information. This site offers a lot of government information that one can view, download, or save in PDF format. Of particular attention, this website offers a section concerning influences on our American Constitution such as France's "Declaration of the Rights of Man" (1798), England's "Bill of Rights of 1689" and "Magna Carta" (1215), Greece's "Athenian Constitution" by Aristotle, and the Iroquois' "Iroquois Constitution / The Great Binding Law Gayanshagowa," as well as a great "Historical Texts" section.

LII Supreme Court Collection: Historic Decisions
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/name.htm
"The Institute is a non-profit activity of Cornell Law School…”
The Legal Information Institute has compiled on this website a tremendous amount of information pertaining to historic Supreme Court decisions by party name. The site has a search engine, and it is highly recommended that it be used as all of the cases can be overwhelming for first-time visitors to the site. While it might be easy locating the correct decision with the search engine, it might take some time to look through all of the information, so beware and plan accordingly!

A More Perfect Union: An Exploration of American Democracy
http://library.thinkquest.org/26466/
“Our entry's [sic] aim is to educate the public regarding democracy. • basic elements of democracy are be discussed • an emphasis would is placed on the potential problems democracy faces • solutions from multiple viewpoints are examined • various sociologists' views on government are discussed…”
A More Perfect Union: An Exploration of American Democracy is a ThinkQuest website created by pre-collegiate students. On this site one can find various short essays/documents on the subjects of Origins of Democracy, Theories of Government, Challenges to Democracy (radical individualism, inequality, representation, etc.), and Models of Democracy (participatory model, pluralistic model, etc.). While this website was designed by school-age students, it is well thought out and easy to navigate through for information.

Our Documents
http://www.ourdocuments.gov
“We want everyone—students, teachers, parents, and the general public—to read these milestone documents, consider their meaning, discuss them, and decide which are the most significant and why.…”
Our Documents is a government website focusing on historical documents from American history. The main goal of this website is to compile a list of the “100 milestone documents” by the National Archives and Records Administration, and then provide resources for teaching them in the classroom. This site chronicles the history of the United States from 1776 to 1965 and includes such documents from the Declaration of Independence, Virginia Plan, Constitution of the United States, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, to the Social Security Act of 1935. As these documents are rather large in size and are in PDF format, it does take a little while for the download. This website is definitely worth visiting due to its great collection of documents and teaching resources.

Oyez: U. S. Supreme Court Multimedia
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage
“Today, The OYEZ Project provides access to more than 2000 hours of Supreme Court audio. All audio in the Court recorded since 1995 is included in the project. Before 1995, the audio collection is selective. It remains our aim to create a complete and authoritative archive of Supreme Court audio covering the entire span from October 1955 through the most recent release.”
For students and teachers wanting to research a specific case, Supreme Court justice, or simply find information on the highest court in America, Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia provides an excellent starting point. This site has information on all of the Supreme Court justices, as well as transcriptions, audio recordings, and summaries of the decisions of the court. The virtual tour of the Supreme Court offers visitors a chance to view images of the building and the chambers in which these legal battles are fought. Finally, the website offers links to other sites that further instruct researchers on the workings and history of the U. S. Supreme Court.

The Papers of John Jay, 1745 - 1829
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/jay
“John Jay's long and eventful life, from 1745 to 1829, encompassed the movement for American independence and the creation of a new nation — both processes in which he played a full part…”
Derived form nearly 14,000 photocopies of Jay’s (and related material), The Papers of John Jay, 1745 – 1829 website offers a great database of scanned images. While the site does offer a brief biography page of John Jay, the focus of this website is its presentation of Jay’s written material. The information that can be found on this site comes in the form of scanned written pages of John Jay himself. One drawback to this site is that one need to know exactly what they are looking for or else there could be some frustration on the part of the visitor. The only way one can access the material seems to be through the site’s search engine, and as is the case the information is not readily available. As the site states, “it is a work in progress…” Hopefully this problem will be addressed. Despite the difficult access to specific information, this site does offer a lot of quality primary documents concerning John Jay and the Federalist Papers.

Supreme Court Antitrust Debates
http://www.ripon.edu/faculty/bowenj/antitrust/INTRO.htm
“Welcome to the Supreme Court Antitrust Debates (SCADs), a collection of excerpts from 72 of the Court's antitrust opinions from 1895 through 1993.”
Created by John Bowen and associates at Ripon College, Supreme Court Antitrust Debates provides browsers with transcripts and guides for antitrust cases. The guides pose questions that link the various antitrust cases together, thus urging the browser to consider each case as a link in a long chain of legal actions against large, exploitative corporations like Standard Oil. Also, the website has biographies of the justices involved in these cases. Although not exhaustive, the snippets give the reader a general sense of how these justices were perceived. Finally, this website has links to websites containing antitrust rulings, glossaries, court opinions, and enforcement agencies.

The Supreme Court Historical Society
http://www.supremecourthistory.org
“The Supreme Court Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. . . . The Society accomplishes its mission by conducting public and educational programs, publishing books and other materials, supporting historical research, and collecting antiques and artifacts related to the Court's history.”
This is a remarkable site about the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Historical Society provides the curious browser with a comprehensive history. The narrative traces the juridical developments of each court and places these transformations within the context of American History. Here, visitors can learn about the daily tasks, responsibilities, and infrastructure of the Supreme Court. Also, the designers incorporate videos, quizzes, and digitalized texts into the subjects. For students seeking additional information, this site can act as a virtual tutorial session. Finally, the website has links to other reputable sites, such as Landmark Supreme Court Cases.

Supreme Court of the United States
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/index.html
The Supreme Court of the United States website offers, as one would likely guess, information about the Supreme Court such as the building and its history, the court and its traditions and procedures, and its members from 1789 to the present. The best thing about this site however is its search engine. One can search Supreme Court files by looking for documents containing keywords the user specifies. The search is very quick, providing many links to pertinent information located in the government databases.

United Kingdom: Primary Documents
http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/uk.html
This site, one will notice at first glance, offers information concerning the history of the United Kingdom. If the visitor were to scroll approximately halfway down the page they would come to such documents as "Proclamation of 1763 - Regarding the American Acquisitions," "Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America" (March 22, 1775), and "Proclamation of Rebellion - In the words of King George III" (August, 23, 1775). These articles are a great way to present a differing viewpoint to the formation of our country; independence vs. rebellion.

The United States Constitution Online
http://www.usconstitution.net
The United States Constitution Online is a very easy website to navigate through as it is very basic in its design. As the name suggests, this website provides an online copy of the constitution. However, the sections of history seem to be laid out in narrative/novel form which leaves room for bias in the accounts. One good thing about this website is that it offers the viewer a question and answer board, where people can write in with their history questions and (in theory) receive a reply back for all to see on the message board. For those individuals looking to for further mental stimulation there is also a debate board featured on this site. This site also features (in list format) all of the American presidents, who ran in past elections (listed by year), and even who received which state's electoral vote (listed by year).

U.S. Constitution.org
http://www.usconstitution.org
"This web site, an extension of CONSTITUTION magazine, aims to encourage appreciation of the principles and history of the U.S. Constitution – particularly among young people…”
Maintained by the Foundation for the U.S. Constitution, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit educational foundation established by presidential mandate in 1986, U.S. Constitution.org provides a good source of information on the major documents in constitutional history. Totaling twenty-nine sources altogether, this site contains documents such as The Declaration of Independence, The Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776: Crafting Bill of Rights, and The Articles of Confederation (among others). One can also find on this website a Resources section that contains an exhaustive list of good books for further reading in the area of constitutional history.

U.S. Founding Documents
http://www.law.emory.edu/erd/docs.html
U.S. Founding Documents, maintained by the Emory University School of Law, is a very simple site, which makes searching for information very easy. On this site one can find information about the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers. One great feature of this site is that it has the capability for individual searches; the visitor to the site can search for specific information in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or Federalist Papers, all independent from one another.