The purpose of political maps. What information do they contain? What is able to be gleaned from studying political maps? Definition of popular vote and electoral vote Description of the Democratic Party and Republican Party Selection of maps: Select two presidential races from 1940-2000 that are interesting to you. One should be pre-1970, and the other should be post-1980. Based on your research, analyze the spread of power through the nation for each election. What part of the nation had the most votes for the president-elect? Evaluation and interpretation of maps: Based on your research, what conclusions can you make about the balance of party power between the years 1940-2000? How did the balance change? What could possibly account for those changes? Conclusion: What did you learn about political maps? About the voting process? About party power and the political changes in the United States?

Political maps are maps that have to do with government. They show where the boundaries and locations of countries, states, cities, towns and counties are. These boundaries and locations are generally determined by people rather than nature.

Countries are parts of continents with their own central government, sometimes referred to as nations.

States are a unit or part of a country, such as the United States, that have a federal government. Federal means that powers are shared between the states and national government. Capitals are the seats of government for states or where the government of a state takes place.

Counties are the parts in which a state is divided for purposes of government. In some states such as Louisiana these divisions are referred to as parishes. The county seat is the city or town in which the governing of the county takes place. Cities are the parts of states with great concentrations of people living and/or working there. Towns are like cities, but are smaller with fewer people. In addition different areas of a political map may be described as rural, meaning a farming area that is not as populated, urban areas that include big cities, and suburban areas that are the areas that surround cities that are not as populated