The Informed Citizen
James Madison, the Father of our Constitution, once said, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
The Informed Citizen, a civics blog of the NJSBF, tackles civics-related topics with the goal of arming all citizens with the knowledge of how the Founding Fathers created the nation and what every citizen’s rights are under the U.S. Constitution.
Posts are added to the blog periodically. All posts contain Discussion Questions, providing a complete lesson plan. To suggest a civics-related topic for the blog, contact Jodi L. Miller at jmiller@njsbf.org.
For more on civics, check out the Civics Publications toggle on our Publications Page, download a copy of the Special Civics Edition of The Legal Eagle or order one of our civics-related publications, including the Bill of Rights Bulletin using our Publication Order Form.
If you would like to be notified when new posts are added to the blog, please subscribe.
Is the U.S. Constitution Dead or Alive?
by Jodi L. Miller When the U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 it took at least 30 seconds to load a musket. Could the framers of the Constitution have envisioned automatic weapons? In a time when...
Maintaining Checks & Balances in Moore v. Harper
by Jodi L. Miller The United States government is a system of checks and balances. The Founders designed it that way so that no one branch—executive, legislative or judicial—has more power than...
U.S. Supreme Court from Origins to Reforms
by Jodi L. Miller A national survey, conducted by Marquette Law School and published in November 2022, revealed that 56% of the public disapprove of the job that the U.S. Supreme Court is doing. A...
Electing a Speaker of the House—It Can Be Complicated
by Jodi L. Miller If you happened to see the 2023 Speaker of the House election process—whether through snippets on the evening news, or maybe you watched the coverage on CSPAN—take heart, because...
Updating an Old Act
by Jodi L. Miller Election rules and procedures in the United States can be complicated. That is especially true in presidential election years because we don’t have one presidential election, we...
Are States “Labs of Democracy?” Yes and No
by Jodi L. Miller In civics education, generally the U.S. Constitution gets all the attention, but every state has its own constitution too and some of them pre-date the federal constitution. An...
Freedom of Speech Vital to Democracy
by Jodi L. Miller Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo wrote in a majority opinion that freedom of speech “is the matrix, the indispensable condition of nearly every other form of freedom.” Other...
Freedom of the Press Guards Against Tyranny
by Jodi L. Miller Thomas Jefferson once said, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” He also said, “Nothing can now be believed which is...
Allowing the Freedom to Practice Religion or Not
by Jodi L. Miller There are more than 300 religious denominations in the United States. From those who believe in one God, to those who believe in multiple Gods, to those who don’t believe in God at...
First Amendment Freedoms Allow For Dissent
by Jodi L. Miller From the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the Black Lives Matter Movement today, Americans have met oppression with protest. The Founding Fathers believed strongly in a citizen’s right...
The Evolution of the Second Amendment
by Jodi L. Miller “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” These 27 words that comprise the...
No Quarter Given
by Jodi L. Miller Can you imagine being forced to shelter someone you don’t know in your home indefinitely? We’re not talking about a distant cousin that annoys you by borrowing your stuff without...