About the Podcast: 60-Second Civics is a daily podcast that provides a quick and convenient way for listeners to learn about our nation’s government, the Constitution, and our history. The podcast explores themes related to civics and government, the constitutional issues behind the headlines, and the people and ideas that formed our nation’s history and government.
Get Involved: Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter. Or you can contact the show by emailing Mark Gage. Let me know what you think!
You Can Help: 60-Second Civics is supported by private donations. You can help keep the podcasts coming by donating, buying an ebook, or by writing a nice review in iTunes to help others discover the show. We love our listeners. You are the reason we created the podcast. Thank you for your kind support!
Music: The theme music for 60-Second Civics is provided by Cheryl B. Engelhardt. You can find her online at cbemusic.com. The song featured on the podcast is Cheryl B. Engelhardt's "Complacent," which you purchase on iTunes, along with all of Cheryl's music.
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60-Second Civics: Episode 2706, Limits on the Power of Administrative Agencies Administrative agencies are powerful, but their power is limited. Find out how on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2700, The President and America's Reputation Why is the president the preeminent figure in domestic and international politics? Find out on today's episode.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2697, Differences Between Parliament and Congress There are critical differences between Parliament and Congress. Learn what these are on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2696, Parliament and the Prime Minister How do Parliament and the prime minister differ from the American system? Find out on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2695, Congress and the Supreme Court Limit the President Congress, the Supreme Court, and public opinion limit the power of the president.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2688, Congress and the Court reign in the president Can Congress and the Supreme Court reign in the power of the president? You bet.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2687, Presidential Power in Emergency and Crisis What does the Constitution say about presidential powers during emergencies or crisis? The answer may surprise you.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2686, Wars, Emergencies, and FDR With the support of Congress, FDR responded to the multiple crises that occurred during his administration.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2681, The President As Leader in Foreign Policy The president has a number of important powers, but the president's powers are limited in important ways.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2680, Franklin D. Roosevelt Find out why Franklin D. Roosevelt was arguably the most influential president of the 20th century.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2676, A Strong President, But Not Too Strong The Framers of the Constitution wanted the president to be strong, but not too strong.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2675, Above Partisan Politics The Framers of the Constitution expected presidents to be above partisan bickering. It didn't work out that way.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2673, Presidential Power and the Courts Today we learn about Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson's opinion in Youngstown Sheet vs. Sawyer.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2670, Impeachment Any member of the House can initiate impeachment proceedings, but two-thirds of the Senate is required for removal from office.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2669, Investigations and the balance of power Congress uses its powers of investigation most frequently when the majority are of a different party than the president.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2667, The authority of Congress to conduct investigations Even though it's not mentioned in the Constitution, Congress has the authority to carry out investigations.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2664, The executive branch as a source for laws The president has the constitutional authority to recommend measures for congressional consideration.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2660, Lawmaking, Part 4: Conference committees and the veto What happens when the House and Senate versions differ? Find out on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2659, Lawmaking, Part 3: The committee vote What happens when a bill is passed by one chamber of Congress? Find out on today's episode.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2653, Office of Speaker in England and America Today we contrast the speaker of the House of Commons with that of the House of Representatives.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2648, Rules for House committees Rules, rules, rules. Your mom has them, your school has them, even the House of Representatives has them.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2647, The purpose of congressional committees The careful, deliberative work of Congress often occurs during committee meetings.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2646, Congressional committees Today we start our series on how Congress performs its functions in the American constitutional system.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2644, Communication with constituents According to C-SPAN, there are 570 official congressional Twitter accounts. Do you follow your members of Congress?
60-Second Civics: Episode 2642, The size of Congress How large is the U.S. Congress compared to other national legislatures? Find out on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2638, Legislative districts What can you do if you don't like the way your congressional district is drawn? Find out on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2636, Inherent powers The power to conduct investigations and compel testimony goes back to Parliament and the colonial legislatures.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2635, Enforcement powers The enforcement powers of Congress have been used to enact sweeping civil rights, voting rights, and voting laws.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2628, How the Framers limited the power of Congress The Framers of the Constitution mistrusted concentrations of power in government, so they sought to limit the power of Congress.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2626, Lengths of terms of parliamentarians and members of Congress Elections to the UK Parliament can occur at irregular intervals, but members of Congress are elected at regular intervals.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2624, Parliamentary government prohibited The Constitution forbids establishment of a parliamentary system for the United States.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2619, Removing obstacles to Native American voting Native Americans were often deprived of their right to vote until Congress took action.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2617, Native American citizenship Throughout most of the first two hundred years of the United States, Native Americans were denied American citizenship.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2616, Native American and citizenship The Framers considered Native Americans to be members of their tribes, not citizens of the United States.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2614, The slow march to woman suffrage Women in the United States gained the right to vote in small increments. Plenty of excuses were offered for not recognizing women's right to vote.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2613, Suffrage for women in the states Even though the federal government was slow to recognize the right of women to vote, states like Wyoming took matters into their own hands.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2612, The long road to equal voting rights for women The road to winning the right to vote for women was long, and suffragists faced many setbacks.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2610, Literacy tests Literacy tests were designed to disenfranchise African American voters. They did not disappear entirely until 1970.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2609, Poll taxes Poll taxes were meant to keep the poor and minorities from voting. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment ended poll taxes in 1964.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2608, Civil Rights Act of 1868 Until discriminatory laws and Supreme Court rulings took effect, millions of African Americans were added to the voting rolls, and some were elected to public office.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2607, Fifteenth Amendment In theory, the Fifteenth Amendment granted the right to vote to African American men. But discriminatory laws kept African Americans from exercising that right.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2606, Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago Mexican American men faced discrimination and violence in Texas when they tried to exercise their right to vote.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2602, Voting and property Thomas Paine, with his characteristically sharp wit, pointing out some problems with the property requirement for voting.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2601, Enfranchisement and disenfranchisement Who was allowed to vote in after the Revolution? It depended on where you lived.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2600, Voting in the colonies What legacy of Greek and Roman democracy did the colonists inherit? Find out on today's episode.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2596, Intermediate scrutiny Today we discuss intermediate scrutiny and how it applies to gender-based distinctions in the law.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2595, Strict scrutiny Strict scrutiny is the highest level of analysis used by the Supreme Court to determine whether equal protection has been violated.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2593, Kenneth and Mamie Clark Kenneth and Mamie Clark's research showed the severe and damaging psychological effects of segregation.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2588, Arbitrary barriers to rights The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects you from arbitrary infringement of your rights.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2587, The equal protection clause Equal protection of the laws is rooted in the Declaration's statement that "all Men are created equal."
60-Second Civics: Episode 2586, Incorporation of criminal procedures Why has the Supreme Court been reluctant to incorporate criminal procedural guarantees? Find out on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2582, Fundamental rights recognized by the courts The states must show they have a compelling interest in order to regulate certain fundamental rights.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2581, The courts and fundamental rights How do the courts deal with issues of fundamental rights? Find out on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2579, Comparing the adversarial and inquisitorial systems Which is better, the adversarial or inquisitorial system of justice? Learn the arguments on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2577, Beyond a reasonable doubt In the American and English systems of justice, criminal defendants do not have to prove their innocence.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2576, Adversarial vs. inquisitorial systems of justice Today we examine the adversarial and inquisitorial systems of justice.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2572, Discriminatory laws Discriminatory laws aimed at reducing the political power of African Americans sowed the seeds of the civil rights movement.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2569, How the country changed after the Civil War The Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery. The war resolved many other issues as well.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2566, Lincoln asserts his authority Lincoln ignored the Supreme Court's ruling on habeas corpus, and Congress backed him up with legislation.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2565, Taney vs. Lincoln The chief justice of the Supreme Court and President Lincoln squared off over Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2564, Too strong or too weak? Abraham Lincoln had to simultaneously exercise and limit his powers during the Civil War to preserve the Union and the Constitution.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2561, Slavery and the Confederate constitution The Confederates wrote a constitution based on the U.S. Constitution, but protected slavery.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2557, Taney and the Dred Scott decision Chief Justice Taney hoped his ruling in Dred Scott would resolve the slavery issue peacefully. It did the opposite.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2556, The reasoning behind the Dred Scott decision In the infamous Supreme Court decision of Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Court held that African Americans were not citizens.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2555, The Dred Scott decision Dred Scott sued for his freedom in a Supreme Court case that inflamed opinions on both sides of the slavery debate.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2554, Free soil and fugitive slaves California was admitted to the Union as a state that banned slavery, but the South got a stronger Fugitive Slave Act in return.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2553, The aftermath of the Mexican-American War How did California's statehood affect slavery in the United States? Find out on today's podcast.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2552, Admitting slave and free states The Missouri Compromise kept the balance between the free and slave states for sixty years.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2550, Slavery in the Constitution The Framers of the Constitution sought to avoid the issue of slavery during the Philadelphia Convention.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2546, Political parties as additional checks and balances Martin Van Buren thought that political parties provided an additional set of checks and balances.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2544, Martin Van Buren on political parties Martin Van Buren and Thomas Jefferson had differing views about the role of political parties.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2542, The Twelfth Amendment The Constitution originally gave the vice presidency to the second-place finisher in a presidential election.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2540, The Alien and Sedition Acts The Alien and Sedition Acts gave the president sweeping powers to act against people he considered enemies.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2538, The Napoleonic Wars divide the nation Hamilton supported Britain; Jefferson supported France. Washington declared American neutrality. Find out on today's episode how the Napoleonic Wars divided the nation.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2537, Differences over economics Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were at odds over the interpretation of the necessary and proper clause.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2536, Concerns over an energetic national government Hamilton and Jefferson disagreed about the power of the national government.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2534, Political parties: good or bad? Edmund Burke thought political parties were useful, but many Americans thought of parties as factions: divisive forces in the country.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2533, Factions in the American colonies There were lots of factions in the American colonies. Today we learn about some of them.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2532, The debate over factions James Madison thought the Constitution would limit the effects of factions; Alexander Hamilton thought factions were an evil to be eliminated from society.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2531, Arguments against judicial review Not everyone agreed with the concept of judicial review. This episodes examines some of their arguments.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2525, Arguments for a bill of rights There were many persuasive arguments for a bill of rights, but adoption of the U.S. Bill of Rights would have to wait until after ratification.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2523, More amendments Did you know that a Supreme Court decision once barred Congress from levying an income tax? It was overturned by the sixteenth amendment.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2522, Fundamental changes The Civil War Amendments and amendments that increased direct participation by citizens fundamentally changed the Constitution.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2521, The Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights was proposed with 12 amendments; only 10 survived to become the Bill of Rights. One of the 12 became the Twenty-seventh Amendment.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2520, Twenty-seven amendments More than 11,000 amendments to the Constitution have been formally proposed, but only 27 have been adopted.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2519, How to amend the Constitution Amendments to the Constitution must be ratified either by state legislatures or special state conventions.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2514, Protections of rights under the Constitution The Federalists fought hard to defend the Constitution against Anti-Federalist criticisms.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2513, Is the Constitution too complicated? Is the government created by the Constitution too complicated to get anything done? Madison argued that it was just complicated enough.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2511, The Constitution would not rely on civic virtue If civic virtue of citizens does not guarantee rights, what will? The Federalists thought they had the answer.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2510, Civic virtue cannot be relied upon Is civic virtue enough to allow a republic to survive? The Federalists said it wasn't.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2509, Survival in a large republic How could democracy survive in a large, diverse nation? James Madison thought he knew the answer.
60-Second Civics: Episode 2507, Republican government in a large and diverse nation Could America do what no large republic had done in history? Federalists thought so.
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