AP Government Syllabus 2014-15
Unit & Dates / Reading / AssessmentThe Constitution
August 19-September 5 / § Sabato Chap 1 3-7,11-14,15-28 (Annotated Const pages 66-93)
§ Words We Live By (WWLB) 10-17
§ Reader: “Framed up” by Hendrik Herztberg
§ Sabato 44-53
§ Federalist # 10 & 51
§ Enduring Debate Beard 22-27 OR Brown 28-33 Pluralism vs. elitism
§ Reader: “Fathers Don’t Always Know Best” by Mark Kurlasky / § Blog: Reclaiming our Republic
§ Multiple Choice & essay TEST!
Federalism
September 9-19 / § Sabato 95-104
§ Reader “A States’ Right Left” by Jim Holt
§ “The Late Great States by Steve Chapman “Abstaining from Federal sex-ed by PJ Huffstutter “Oregon Right to Die” Supreme Court decision- State exemptions from Affordable Health Care, Sabato 104-109
§ Enduring Debate “The Price of Federalism” by Paul Peterson / § Multiple Choice test and in class essay
The Electoral Process
September 22-November 4/5
Fall Break is October 20-24 / § Reader “10 Steps to Better Elections” by Steve Hill Reader: Update on Campaign Finance- The impact of Citizens United
§ Sabato Chap 11 389-404
§ Sabato Chap 12 419-458
§ Sabato 581- 566 and 590-606
§ Sabato Chap 13 461-507 Sabato Chap 16 584-586, lobbying-590-606
§ Enduring Debate “The Paradoxes of the American Presidency” by Thomas Cronin & Michael Genovese Reader: “Packing Cracking and Kidnapping” by Don Peck & Caitlin Casey
§ Atlantic Monthly The Quill Is Voting Worth the Trouble? / § Class elections November 3 (See role handouts for due dates for Election & Campaign assignments)
§ Multiple Choice test and in class essay
Political Culture and the Media
November 6-Dec 4/5 / § Sabato Chap 15 562-579
§ Reader: “Deep Throat and Shallow Journalism” by Howard Kurtz
§ Reader: “Permanent Fatal Errors” by Louis Menand 23-28
§ Reader: -“One Nation out of Many” by Samuel Huntington
§ Sabato 404-417
§ Culture War? by Morris Fiorina 2011 edition / § Quiz
Congress
December 4/5—Dec 11/12 / § Sabato Chapter 7
§ Reader: -“To The Founders, Congress was King” by John Dillin
§ “ New Anthrax Vaccine” 64-72
§ Capital’s New Four Letter Word Reader: Congressional memo: Behind the Noisy clashes-2 chambers that don’t understand each other” by Carl Huise New York Times
§ Profiles In Courage by John Kennedy Introductory chapter / § Multiple Choice test and in class essay
The Executive & Bureaucracy
Dec 15-Jan 16 / § Sabato Chapter 8 & 9
§ WWLB 64-72
§ “The Power to Persuade” by Richard Neustadt Enduring Debate
§ Reader: FCC Fines by Joel Stein LA Times (in class) High Court may Rethink @#!” / § Multiple Choice test and in class essay
The Judiciary
January 27/28-Feb 19-20 / § Sabato Chapter 10 359-371
§ Courtroom 302 Chapters “Good Facts Bad Facts” & “Busted Again”
§ Enduring Debate “Overruling the Court” by Leon Friedman
§ “Enduring Debate Common Law Courts in a Civil Law System” by Antonin Scalia and “Our Democratic Constitution” by Stephen Breyer / § Multiple Choice test and in class essay
§ Mock Supreme Court
§ Matching Quiz on Supreme Court cases
Civil Rights
Feb 26/27 / § Sabato 157-195
§ Reader
§ WWLB SC cases / Quiz