The U.S. Capitol Building on a Sunny Day

E Pluribus Unum: Resources for Talking to Students About the Attack on the U.S. Capitol

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Published in

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

5 min readJan 7, 2021

On January 6, 2021, Congress met at the U.S. Capitol to count electoral votes and record for posterity the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. This meeting, in “The People’s House,” has signaled the peaceful transition of power since the founding of our nation.

Instead, we as a nation found ourselves grappling with one of the most distressing transitions of presidential power in our history.

Our young people watched alongside us, and they are looking to their families, educators, and trusted adults to contextualize and help them process what transpired in the nation’s capital, our state capital, and many other cities across the country.

At OSPI, part of our mission is to prepare students for civic engagement throughout their lives. We believe our schools must engage and empower students, from an early age, with opportunities to participate in civil conversations, examples of effective civic engagement, and tools to find peaceful solutions to community problems.

OSPI’s Social Studies and Social-Emotional Learning teams have put together resources for educators, families, and students to help with these difficult conversations.

Q&A:

This Q&A was created by D.C. Public Schools to help navigate questions that may arise. Slight edits have been made to reflect changes to the situation since their development.

1. What was Congress scheduled to do on January 6?

Congress held a joint session with members from the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to count and officially certify the electoral votes from the 2020 Presidential Election. Vice President Mike Pence presides over the joint session as certificates with the electoral votes from each state are opened in alphabetical order (by state name) and announced. Members can object to the returns from any state if they submit their objection in writing with approval from at least one member of the House and Senate. If an objection is made, members will separate into each chamber and debate the objection for up to two hours. An objection must be accepted by majority vote of both houses in order for votes from the contested state to be excluded. If one of the candidates receives a majority of electoral votes (i.e., at least 270 votes), the Vice President declares that person the winner. Based on the certified results of the state electoral votes, Democrat Joe Biden received 306 votes and Republican Donald Trump 232 votes.

Sources:
Election Day to Inauguration Day Graphic (Street Law, Inc.)
What Pence And Congress Can And Can’t Do About The Election (NPR)
The 1876 election was the most divisive in U.S. history. Here’s how Congress responded (National Geographic)

2. Will the election outcome change because of the assault on the U.S. Capitol?

No, there is no procedure to change the outcomes of a free and fair election. By 8:10 pm on January 6, the U.S. Capitol had been cleared by security and lawmakers reentered the building to continue the process of certifying the election as described above. Joe Biden’s election was certified by Congress, and he will be inaugurated on Wednesday, January 20 at noon.

Source: Live Updates from evening of January 6th (Associated Press)

3. When is President elect Biden supposed to take office?

The Constitution of the United States established March 4 as Inauguration Day in order to allow enough time after Election Day for officials to gather election returns and for newly-elected candidates to travel to the capital. With modern advances in communication and transportation, the lengthy transition period proved unnecessary and legislators pressed for change. The date was moved to January 20 with the passage of the 20th Amendment in 1933.

Source: Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Inauguration (Library of Congress)

4. What is the difference between a legal protest and what happened yesterday?

As the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. has long been the site of many of our nation’s largest protests and assemblies. While many of these events have been peaceful (e.g., featuring speakers, live music, and marching through the streets), there have been times when violence has erupted. However, until yesterday, acts of violence have rarely been waged around or within the U.S. Capitol Building.

Source: Eleven Times When Americans Have Marched in Protest on Washington (Smithsonian Magazine)

5. Why is this an unusual event in the U.S.? Has this ever happened before?

Yesterday’s takeover of the U.S. Capitol is unprecedented. But America’s seat of government has endured bombings, a presidential assassination attempt, and even its destruction by foreign forces. There have also been attacks from inside — including a near-fatal attack on one lawmaker by another. The sources linked below provide some details on previous events of violence in and around the U.S. Capitol.

Sources:
The U.S. Capitol’s turbulent history of bombings, assassination attempts, and violence (National Geographic)
‘Nothing less than a miracle’: The Constitution and the peaceful transition of power (National Constitution Center)
Obama, Bush and Clinton deride US Capitol breach in pointed statements (CNN)

6. How did the people who attacked the U.S. Capitol differ from peaceful protestors? How did the racial makeup of the group affect the response to their actions?

The rioters who stormed past Capitol police barricades and into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 consisted of largely white supporters of President Trump. Civil rights leaders blasted law enforcement agencies for their slow and initially passive response to rioters at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, noting the massive show of police force for Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year over police killings of unarmed Black Americans.

Sources:
Jan. 6th Insurrection Lesson (Mikva Challenge)
‘Double standard’: Black lawmakers and activists decry police response to attack on US Capitol (USA Today)
Police gave more leeway to Trump supporters than to BLM protesters in Capitol insurrection (the Grio) Note: The Grio source has inappropriate language in the second embedded Tweet.

7. How should I talk to students about the violence at the Capitol?

Consider the age of your students and allow students space to express their feelings. Clarify key facts about the events for yourself, but be prepared to acknowledge that we do not currently have all the information about what happened yesterday. See the sources below for additional and more specific guidance.

Sources:
Guidance for Discussing Events with Students (DCPS Student Supports Team)
How to talk to your kids about the chaos at the Capitol (National Geographic)
Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers (National Association of School Psychologists)
An age-by-age guide on how to talk about difficult topics with your children (Motherly and Common Sense Media)