FOUNDATONS

  1. Foundations -- How Did We Get Here?
  2. Why Government?
  3. The Philosophical Perspective In the late 1600s, Two prominent English philosophers--Thomas Hobbes and John Locke--speculated about the kind of place the world would be if there were no government. Their views had a significant impact on the thinking of the political leaders of their day, including the major players on both sides of the American and French Revolutions.
  4. A Practical Perspective What kinds of things does the government do that influence your life every day?
  5. The Economic Perspective The United States of America is primarily a capitalistic society, meaning that the economy is largely left alone by the government. However, there are a growing number of cases where the government gets involved and alters what would otherwise be natural market outcomes. Why does it do this? Is it justified?
  6. How did We Get Here? --- The American Revolution
  7. A Brief Chronology of the Revolutionary War.)
  8. Articles of Confederation
  9. What did they state
  10. What happened between 1781 and 1787 that made them ineffective?
  11. Shay’s rebellion
  12. Overview of Articles of Confederation
  13. What IS American Political Thought?
  14. Who influenced the Founders Most?
  15. Locke
  16. Separation of Powers
  17. Montesquieu
  18. Federalist Papers
  19. The Constitutional Convention
  20. Substance of the Debate
  21. New Jersey Plan
  22. Great Compromise
  23. Slavery – 3/5ths
  24. The Drafting of the Constitution
  25. Ratification
  1. Foundations -- The Constitution
  2. Features
  3. Ratification
  4. Implementation
  5. Support for the New Constitution
  6. Implementing a New Government
  7. Washington's Precedents
  8. Interpreting the Constitution
  9. Marbury vs. Madison
  10. McCulloch v. Maryland
  11. "necessary and proper
  12. supremacy clause of the Constitution. Maryland's tax on the Bank, therefore, was unconstitutional.
  13. A Living Document
  1. Foundation -- The Bill of Rights
  2. First Amendment: Religion
  3. First Amendment: Speech
  4. Second Amendment: Right to Bear Arms
  5. Rights of the Accused
  6. Limits on the National Government
  7. Other Rights
  1. Foundation – TheCivil Rights Movement
  1. Foundation – What is Federalism?
  2. Competing Definitions of Federalism
  3. Permissive Federalism
  4. New Federalism
  5. WHY Federalism?
  6. Protecting Rights and Liberties
  7. Government Close to the People!
  8. Labs of Democracy
  9. STRUCTURE of Federalism
  10. Powers of the National Government
  11. Express Powers
  12. Implied Powers
  13. Limits of National Power
  14. State Government Powers
  15. Shared Powers

INSTITUTIONS

  1. Congress
  2. The People's Branch?
  3. Congressional Organization
  4. What does a Member Do?
  5. Bicameral Legislation
  6. Constitutional Officers
  7. Political Organization
  8. Committee System
  9. Congressional Power
  10. Make Law
  11. Power of the Purse
  12. Declare War
  13. Oversight and Investigation
  14. Advise and Consent
  15. Treaties (Senate)
  16. Confirmation of Judicial and Executive Appointees
  17. Congressional Representation
  18. Who is represented?
  19. What does that mean?
  20. Assessing Representation
  21. Executive Branch
  22. Office of President
  23. Eligibility
  24. Birthers
  25. Informal Requirements
  26. Agencies
  27. Presidential Power
  28. Formal
  29. Domestic
  30. Chief Executive
  31. War Powers
  32. Approval Rating
  33. Presdiential Leadership
  34. Cabinet
  35. Party Leader
  36. Power of Persuasion
  37. Campaigner in Chief?
  38. The Supreme Court -- Judiciary
  39. How many justices/
  40. What do they do?
  41. What are they a part of?
  42. The Legislative Process
  43. How a Law is Made
  44. School House Rock
  45. What does School House Rock Leave Out?
  46. Committee Process
  47. Inception to Enrollment
  48. Chairmanship of Committees
  49. “Why Congress is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It” – Jim Cooper
  50. The Federal Budget
  51. Revenue
  52. Appropriations
  53. Budget Process
  54. Debt Limit
  55. Government Shutdown
  56. What not?

PROCESS

  1. Political Socialization
  2. Political Culture
  3. Civic Duty and Political Participation
  4. Why are voting rates abysmal?
  5. Who votes?
  6. Who doesn’t? Why?
  7. Where We Get Our Political Values
  8. Colbert
  9. Fox News
  10. Public Opinion
  11. What is Public Opinion
  12. Sampling
  13. How does it change?
  14. Voting & Elections
  15. Who can vote?
  16. Why don’t we vote more?
  17. Partisan Identification
  18. Partisan Test
  19. Political Party Alignments
  20. Are we becoming a more dividing country?
  21. Electoral College
  22. Campaign Finance
  23. Candidates and Campaigns
  24. Campaign strategy
  25. Public Policy
  26. The Public Policy Process
  27. Social Policy
  28. Economic Policy
  29. Foreign Policy

PARTICIPANTS

  1. Citizens
  2. Who participates?
  3. Why?
  4. How can one participate more?
  5. Parties
  6. What do parties do?
  7. Do we still need political parties?
  8. Interest Groups
  9. Participating in Interest Groups
  10. Why Do Groups Form?
  11. Why Do People Join Groups?
  12. Kinds of Interest Groups
  13. Economic Groups
  14. Social Policy or Ideologically Based Groups
  15. Public Interest GroupsLabor Unions
  16. What Do Groups Do?
  17. The Media
  18. Working with them… or having them work against you!

1