Learn what different offices do. Read a public document. Find a reliable source. Practice asking a clear question.
Town, county, state, tribal, and federal governments have different responsibilities. Tribal nations have their own governments; they are not departments of a town or state.
Offices and districts checked September 23, 2026. These links go to official public offices. Use the legislature’s address lookup to confirm your own district.
Leads the state executive branch, proposes a budget, and signs or vetoes bills.
Official office & contact ↗Helps the governor and takes on the governor's duties when the Constitution requires it.
Official office & contact ↗Oversees elections, public records, and several other state services.
Official office & contact ↗Leads the state's legal office and enforces laws that protect the public.
Official office & contact ↗Manages state cash, debt, and unclaimed property.
Official office & contact ↗Reviews how state organizations use public money and carry out their work.
Official office & contact ↗Represents this district in the Massachusetts House and works on state laws.
Official office & contact ↗Represents this district in the Massachusetts Senate and works on state laws.
Official office & contact ↗Represents this district, including Martha's Vineyard, in the U.S. House and works on federal laws.
Official office & contact ↗Represents Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate and works on federal laws.
Official office & contact ↗Represents Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate and works on federal laws.
Official office & contact ↗Massachusetts
Meet the state's name, symbols, and stories. Pick one fact to explain in your own words.
How do public symbols show which stories a state chooses to remember?
Massachusetts
Find state history activities, a State House guide, and a story about making a law.
How can you compare a classroom summary with the original record behind it?
Massachusetts
Read how a class worked to make the ladybug a state symbol.
What steps turn a student's idea into a proposal that lawmakers can consider?
Massachusetts
A constitution sets rules for government. Explore this state's rules and later changes with an adult.
How do the Declaration of Rights and the frame of government serve different purposes?
Massachusetts
Explore a state history overview. Keep a list of questions and people you want to learn about.
Whose experiences appear in this overview, and which additional first-person sources would help?
Massachusetts
See how a museum uses old documents to help students learn about Massachusetts.
What can an original document tell us that a textbook summary cannot?
Massachusetts
Learn about the building where state government works. Find tours and learning materials.
How can the design and artwork of a public building tell a story about government?
Massachusetts
Follow an idea as lawmakers discuss it and decide what to do.
Why might a proposed law change as it moves through committees and both chambers?
Massachusetts
With a trusted adult, use the official map to find your state senator and representative.
Why can two nearby addresses have different representatives?
Massachusetts
Plan a clear question or idea. Ask an adult to help you review the official contact page.
Which part of your question concerns state government, and what evidence supports it?
Massachusetts
Find county services, news, and public meeting information.
Which public needs might be shared across several towns?
Massachusetts
Learn about the county's seven-member lawmaking group and its meetings.
How could you use an agenda and meeting record to trace a county decision?
Massachusetts
Learn how Town Meeting discusses town spending and local rules.
How is an open Town Meeting different from a representative Town Meeting?
Massachusetts
Learn about the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and its council's work for the Tribe.
Why should tribal government be studied in its own right when we compare governments?
Massachusetts
Read the Tribe's account of life on Noepe, also called Martha's Vineyard, and its history.
How does a community's own account add to the history found in state summaries?
Massachusetts
Learn how the Tribe supports learning across the lives of its members.
How can education help a community carry knowledge from one generation to the next?
Massachusetts
Find ways to learn about courts and the historic John Adams Courthouse.
Why does a court need to hear evidence and follow fair procedures?
Massachusetts
Find places and people that help readers look up laws.
How can you tell whether a source explains a law or is the law itself?
Massachusetts
Use activities to learn what courts do and how state and federal courts differ.
How does a court's authority affect which cases it can hear?
Massachusetts
Try government lessons, words, and games grouped by age.
How do the jobs of the three branches connect while staying separate?
Massachusetts
Look at real records from the past and learn to ask questions about them.
Who made this record, why was it made, and what can it leave out?
Massachusetts
Explore groups of old pictures, maps, and documents with teacher guides.
How can two sources about one event agree, differ, or fill each other's gaps?
Massachusetts
Explore a Vineyard library's books, events, and places to learn together.
How does a public library help people take part in community life?
Massachusetts
Find state resources for learning about government and student civic projects.
How can a class choose a question, gather evidence, and reflect on what it learned?
Massachusetts
Find Massachusetts's two U.S. senators and their official contact links.
Why does every state have two senators while House representation follows a different rule?
Quincy: the Adams family homes