Unit One Review Sheet

Announcement:

Your email addresses have been assigned. Student mail page can be found at Your login (email address) is your student id number. Your password is your school password. Please email me over the weekend from this account to verify your email.

Review Information:

You need to be familiar and able to apply the following concepts, terms and ideas in order to be successful on the exam. It may be helpful to use the American Logics website to help you prepare for the exam. As well, revisit your reading journals, in class essays and assignments. I have posted some powerpoints online to assist in clarifying lecture information.

Your test will consist of 20-35 multiple choice questions, and one essay exam. Many of the essay questions will require critical thinking and application of information.

Of the four essay questions below. TWO will be on the exam. You will be required to respond to one. Essays should produce “good” scores, as you have the exact questions in advance. I would encourage you to create a thesis statement for each question on this sheet. Essay rubric has been attached so you know what I’m looking for.

Terms/Concepts: Identify, explain, and apply the following terms to political process. We’ve discussed these in class essays, in reading, lectures and activities. This list in not extensive. Anything we’ve covered is fair game!

:

Politics / Compromise / Institutions / Constitution
Government / Power / Authority / Collective Action
Coordination / Free-Riding / Tragedy of Commons / Transaction Cost
Conformity Cost / Majority Rule / Delegation / Tyranny
Plurality / Agency Loss / Representative Gov. / Republic
Parliamentary Sys / Presidential Sys. / Separation of Powers / Public Goods
Private Goods / Articles of Confederation / Home Rule / Stamp Act
Continental Congress / Bicameralism / Confederation / Shay’s Rebellion
Pluralism / Elite-Class Theory / Hyperpluralism / Traditional Democratic Theory
Public Policy / State of Nature / Rule of Law / Social Contract
Unitary System / Federal System / Purpose of Government / Challenges to Democracy
Hobbes Political Theory / Locke’s Political Theory / Rousseau’s Political Theory / Institutional Design
British Origins / Colonial Experiences / Political Conflict

Essay Prompts: Essay prompts should be written in proper sentence & paragraph form. As well, you should incorporate vocabulary terms into your response.

  1. Institutional design is important for a stable and efficient government.
  2. List at three characteristics of “good government” institutions.
  3. Explain how each characteristic strengthens citizen’s trust and support in government.
  4. Explain how each characteristic limits the power of government institutions.
  1. Summarize some of the major challenges facing American democracy today.
  2. Connect these challenges to the concept of collective action problems.
  3. Briefly state your opinion as to how serious these challenges are and how they might be met.
  1. Discuss how coordination and transaction costs for states changed when the national government moved from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution.
  2. Include some of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
  3. Identify how these weaknesses signified a need for revision of institutional design.
  4. Explain why states felt the costs were worth the price.
  1. Summarize the experiences colonists had in self-government prior to the Revolutionary War.
  2. In which areas did they have the most experience?
  3. In which areas did they have the least?
  4. How did these experiences shape the institutions they designed in the Articles of Confederation?