Advanced Placement Government

Note-Taking Procedure for Your Textbook

Before you Read:

  1. Scan the Chapter Outline. Think about what you already know about each topic to be covered.
  2. Thumb through the section before reading. Take a look at blue, red and green headings and look at the visuals. Read over the vocabulary before reading.

While you Read:

  1. Use the blue, red and green headings to take outline notes.
  2. Under each heading, write a summary in your own words that include the important facts and ideas.
  3. For law or court case mentioned and each vocabulary word:
  4. Define it (underline the law, case, or word)
  5. Explain how it relates to the section

After you Read:

  1. Describe 5 of the visuals (pictures, graphs, tables, maps, Making a Difference, Why Does it Matter, Issue of the Times etc) For each one:

-describe it and explain why you think its included in the section

Written Requirements for the Notes

  1. Title of Section
  2. Take outline notes using the blue, red and green headings.
  3. Include the definition and explanation of vocabulary, laws, and court cases. (underline it)
  4. At the end of the notes write descriptions and explanations of 5 visuals.

(See the example on the back)

Introducing Government in America—Chapter 1

  1. Government
  2. Government: institutions and the way that public policy is made for society
  3. Government is made up by the institutions that make policy decisions for our society. (Congress, the presidency, the courts, and the bureaucracy)
  4. A democracy has to decide “how we should govern” as well as “what government should do.”
  5. All governments:
  6. Defend a country
  7. Provide public services (schools and roads) and public goods (shared by everyone like clean air and water)
  8. Keep the Peace
  9. Socialize the young (educate)
  10. Collect taxes
  1. Politics (the way we select our government and our leaders)
  2. The activities that people do to get involved are called political participation. (voting is the most common, civil disobedience is also participating)
  3. Some of the most talked about issues in the US are driven by single-issue groups. They have narrow interests and tend to focus only on that issue. (abortion, death penalty etc)
  1. The Policymaking System (is the process which brings about policy)
  2. People Shape Policy
  3. Linkage institutions (political channels through which people concerns get on the political agenda) include elections, political parties, interest groups and the media.
  4. Policy Agenda: are the issues that get the most attention and are often determined by the media.
  5. People often disagree on how to solve issues making them political issues.
  6. The three most important policymakers are the policy making institutions otherwise known as the three branches of government. (congress, the courts, and the presidency)
  7. Policies Impact People
  8. All the ways that government responds to political issues make up public policy. (laws, court decisions, budget choices, government regulation or simply doing nothing)
  1. Democracy (when people select the policy makers and policy reflects citizen’s choice)
  2. Traditional Democratic Theory:
  3. Everyone should be able to vote and speak freely in order for democracy to work.
  4. Majority Rules (will of over half) must be tempered by minority rights (guaranteeing rights to those who are not in the majority) in order to prevent a mob mentality.
  5. Direct democracy is impossible in a large society. Representation (a few vote on behalf of the masses) is more of what the US has.
  6. Contemporary Theories of Democracy:
  7. Pluralist Theory: is an optimistic theory which state that groups with shared interests (interests groups) work together to compete over policy and no one group is too powerful.
  8. Elite and Class Theory: is more pessimistic stating that our society is divided along classes and the upper class or the elite controls the government.
  9. Hyperpluralism: also criticizes pluralism. This theory suggests that the groups are so strong that they have made government ineffective.
  10. Challenges to Democracy:
  11. The elite are the “experts”
  12. Too few participate
  13. Campaigns are too expensive—(where does the money come from)
  14. There tends to be policy gridlock—nothing gets done because there are too many interests.
  1. Scope of Government in America
  2. American government is big in terms of money spent.
  3. Approx 29 % of GDP-total value of all goods and services is spent on local, state and national government. (over $2 trillion, employs over 2 million, owns 1/3 of US land)
  4. 1/6 is spent on national defense, 1/5 on social security
  5. More services means more taxes, lower taxes means less services
  6. US government spends less on government than most developed countries
  7. Americans believe in the “American Dream”—Individualism, where people should work to provide for themselves.