The Center on Representative Government is a non-partisan, educational institution that has developed an extensive array of free civics education resources and activities to improve the public’s understanding of the role of representative government, to strengthen civic engagement, and to teach the skills that are essential to sustaining our form of representative democracy.

The Center was established in January of 1999.  The idea for the Center grew from former Congressman Lee Hamilton's recognition during his time in the U.S. House of Representatives of the need to improve the public’s understanding of Congress – its role in our large and remarkably diverse country, its strengths and its weaknesses, and its impact on the lives of ordinary people every day.

At the core of the Center’s work is the belief that our nation’s great experiment of representative democracy has served us well for more than 200 years, but it fundamentally rests on an informed electorate that understands our system of government and participates in our civic life.