BishopAmatMemorialHigh School

Honors United States Government Syllabus

Text:

Karen O’Connor., and Larry Sabato. 2010 American Government: Continuity and Change. Longman Press.

Peter Woll, American Government Readings and Cases. Longman. 15th Edition

Course:
This is an Honors course in American Politics and Government. As such, it assumes virtually no previous knowledge of the subject. Throughout the semester, we will discuss the founding of the Republic, current institutional structure as well as the role and behavior of citizens in a representative democracy. Although this is not a current events class, I will often discuss how current events relate to the topic at hand. As a result, you should make some attempt to follow what's happening in the world. The text will be liberally supplemented with additional readings in primary and secondary sources, C-SPAN, newspapers and news magazines, information form the Internet, and the Woll reader.

Grading:

Tests – 30%

Quizzes – 20%

Assignments, Participation and Projects – 40%

Final Exam - 10%

I want students to be successful in my class.

Please feel free to contact me ( or 626-962-2495 ext 7430) with any questions or to review any material that maybe presenting difficulties.

Course Outline

Part I: Foundations of Government

1-Political Landscape

2-The United States Constitution

3-Federalism

Part II: Institutions of Government

The Judicial Branch

10-The Federal Court System

5-Civil Liberties: First Amendment Freedoms

5-Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights

Part III: Institutions and Government continued

7-Congress

8-Presidency

Part IV: Political Behavior

11-Public Opinion and Political Socialization

12-Political Parties

13-Voters, Voting Behavior and the Electoral Process

14-Campaign Process

15-News Media

16-Interest Groups

The Honors course in American Government and Politics is detailed and comprehensive students must work diligently to keep up with the workload.

Required and Supplementary Readings

Readings / Documents / Lecture Notes
Pluralism
The Power Elite
Political Culture
Political Participation
Interest Groups
Political Parties
Campaigns and Elections
The Media
Congress
The Presidency
The Bureaucracy
The Judiciary / The Federalist Papers - # 10
The Federalist Papers - # 15
The Federalist Papers - # 36
The Federalist Papers - # 37
The Federalist Papers - # 39
The Federalist Papers - # 46
The Federalist Papers - # 47
The Federalist Papers - # 51
The Federalist Papers - # 78
The Federalist Papers - # 79
Documents Library / The American Political System
The Constitution
Federalism
Economic Policy
Political Culture
Public Opinion and Political Ideology
Political Participation
Interest Groups
Political Parties
Elections and Campaigns
The Media
Congress
The Presidency
The Bureaucracy
The Judiciary

Web Sites of Interest

News Organizations and Publications / Government Sites
CNN - Cable New Network - "All News All The Time!"
C- Span - Public Affairs Coverage - "All Congress, All the Time!"
USAToday - National News, often has great charts and graphs.
Roll Call - Plug into Congress Online! What the insiders read.
The Hill - More Washington reporting
The New York Times - "All the news that's fit to print."
The Washington Post - The second best paper in America.
Newsweek - Terrific national news magazine. Political focus.
Congressional Quarterly - Congress / THOMAS - The official website of the Congress of the United States. A massive site with information galore and tons of links to other government sites.
Library of Congress Home Page
Fed World - A world of information and links about the Federal Government. Key word searchable.
The White House – Presidency and Administration
-U.S. House of Representatives
- U.S. Senate
Political Science Sites / Other Sites of Interest
PoliSci.com - Amazing source of information. Part pay site, also has free information in the almanac and tons of great links. This list on PoliSci.com has all the interest groups in the US that have web sites. Click here.
Project Vote Smart - Much info on government!
Teach Politics - Images of Political History
Political Science Virtual Library - Some of the political science resources that are available on the internet.
Hieros Gamos - The Comprehensive Law and Government Portal. / -Democratic National Party
-Republican National Party
– Electoral College
-National Budget Simulator.
Political Philosophy Home Page - Marx, Hegel, Machiavelli, Rousseau, Kant, Locke.. they may be dead but their ideas live on... here!
-University of Michigan Political Science Resources
.

Question? Suggestion? E-Mail me
Last Updated 20 April 2006