1. Sample Short-Answer Questions
Define public policy and give two examples.
Anything government decides to do. Examples: safe working conditions, minimum wage, war on drugs, speed limits, mandatory public education.
Distinguish direct from indirect democracy.
Direct involves all citizens in the decision making process. Indirect involves those electing people to positions in government to make decisions for us.

2. Interactive Notebook/Tracking Log

3. Interactive Notebook/Tracking Log

4. Chapter 1: Essential Questions
Identify and describe the goals of government.
Describe some forms of government around the world today.
Identify the basic concepts of democracy.

5. Chapter 1: Essential Questions
What is government? An institution that society makes to create law and enforce public policies.
What are public policies? Anything government decides to do. For example:
safe working conditions
minimum wage
war on drugs
speed limits
mandatory public education
These are all examples of public policies that the government regulates and enforces.

6. Chapter 1: Essential Questions
What are the goals of government?
Form a more perfect union
Establish justice
Insure domestic tranquility
Provide for the common defense
Promote the general welfare
Secure the blessings of liberty.

8. Chapter 1: Principles of government
In the U.S., government has been divided into three main branches:
Executive - power to execute, enforce, and administer law
Legislative - power to create law public policy
Judicial - power to interpret laws through court rulings
Why did the Framers of the constitution separate these powers?

10. Chapter 1: Principles of government
Classifying Governments
Who can participate in the governing process?
The geographic distribution of governmental power?
The relationship between the legislative & executive branches?

11. Chapter 1: Principles of government
Who can participate in the governing process?
Democracy – political authority rests with the people. Forms include: direct and indirect. Direct involves all citizens in the decision making process. Indirect involves those elected to positions in government to make decisions.
Dictatorship – political authority rests in the leader, not people. Forms include: autocracy (power given to one person) or oligarchy (power given to a chosen few)

12. Chapter 1: Principles of government
2. The geographic distribution of power.
Unitary – all powers held by the central government belong to a single, central agency. Local government exists only for convenience.
Federal – governmental power is divided between a central government and regional/local government.
Confederate – is an alliance of independent states. The central government barely exists, any power exercised is by grant of the states.

13. Chapter 1: Principles of government
3. The relationship between the legislative & executive branches
Presidential – branches are separate and coequal. For example, in the U.S., we have Congress (legislative branch) and the President (executive branch) both equal and separate.
Parliamentary – the branches are fused as one, since the chief executive is selected from among the members of the legislative branch. For example, in the U.K., the Prime Minister is selected from the British Parliament.

14. Chapter 1: Principles of government
The geographic distribution of power.
Democracy – political authority rests with the people. Forms include: unitary (power at national level), federal (power spread at national, state, local levels)
Dictatorship – political authority rests in the leader, not people. Forms include: autocracy (power given to one person) or oligarchy (power given to a chosen few)

16. Chapter 1: Principles of government
Class Activity: Complete the handout distributed. For each concept of democracy, describe the ideal, or theory, and then detail the real-world application if each ideal.
Equality of all persons
Individual Freedom
Democracy
Necessity of Compromise
Worth of Individual
Majority Rule, Minority Rights

17. Chapter 1: Principles of government
Equality of all persons
Individual Freedom
Democracy
Necessity of Compromise
Worth of Individual
Majority Rule, Minority Rights

18. Chapter 2: Our Political Beginnings
Limited
Basic Concepts of Government
Representative Government
Ordered Government

19. Chapter 2: Our Political Beginnings
To what extent are the landmark documents crucial to the freedoms you hold most dear?
Theses landmark documents are crucial because they cover all of the essential freedoms we value in society. Free speech, religion, prevention of government abuse of power, and other basic safeguards protect all people.

20. Chapter 2: Our Political Beginnings
Could the Revolutionary War have occurred without these documents?
It would have still happened, but these documents gave colonists something to fight for and probably enhanced our chances for success because of that.

21. Chapter 2: Our Political Beginnings
How have these documents influenced your State and Federal government?
Both State and Federal must follow the principles in these documents; they are not optional.

22. Factors leading to the Revolutionary War:
English domination (foreign power ruling over the colonies).
Restrictive trading policies put in place over the colonies (who they could or could not trade with).
Taxation without representation (colonials had no voice in government)

23. The Declaration of Independence
Preamble: Why was the Declaration of Independence written?
Declaration of Natural Rights: What rights are specifically cited?
List of Grievances: How many cited?
Resolution of Independence: How do the colonials decide to resolve the issue?

24. The Articles of Confederation
Powers of Congress under the AoC:
Wage war, send/receive ambassadors, build a navy, establish a post office, and make treaties. Each state had 1 delegate in congress.
The Articles of Confederation, created in 1777, created a league of friendship among the independent 13 states. The structure assigned most power to the states, while the national government had little power.
This lack of power given to the national government, and the corresponding weaknesses, to led a crisis by 1787 and the calling for a constitutional convention.

25. Chapter 3:The Constitution
The Colonial Mind
A lust for domination is more or less natural to all parties.
Men will seek power because they are ambitious, greedy, and easily corrupted.
The liberties the colonists fought to protect were widely understood. They were based not on the generosity of a king, but on higher law embodying natural rights.

26. Chapter 3:The Constitution
The Articles of Confederation
Our nations first attempt at national government.
AoC failed, in part, because of the following:
Congress could not tax
Amendments required unanimous vote
No executive branch to enforce laws enacted
Congress could not regulate interstate commerce
National government was dependent upon the States for militia

27. Chapter 3:The Constitution
Key Principles
Federalism – sharing of power among national, state, and local government
Enumerated powers – powers exclusively belonging to the federal government (print money, declare war, make treaties)
Reserved powers – powers exclusively belonging to state government (issue licenses, regulate commerce within a state)
Concurrent powers – powers shared by both federal and state governments )tax, build roads, borrow money, creating courts)
Checks and Balances – each branch has the power to check and balance the operations and power of the other two branches.

28. Chapter 3:The Constitution
Key Principles
Federalists – nationalists, favored strong national government
Antifederalists - “states’ righters,” favored weaker national government
Bill of Rights – 1st 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that contain the core liberties and protections from government.
Habeas Corpus – a judicial order to produce an arrested person before a judge
Bill of Attainder – A law that declares a person, without trial, guilty of a crime.
Ex Post Facto – A law that makes an act criminal although it was legal at the time it was committed.

29. Chapter 3:The Constitution
The Virginia Plan – a national legislature would have supreme powers on all matters not under state control (including power to veto state laws) as well as one house in congress directly elected by the people based upon population.
The New Jersey Plan – proposed to amend the AoC, and maintain equal representation among the states in the national legislature.
The Great Compromise – a.k.a. Connecticut Compromise, represented a compromise between the Virginia and New Jersey plans; it called for bicameral legislature where both large and small state interests would be protected (House membership based upon population, Senate membership based upon equal members from every state.

30. Chapter 2: Constitutional Reform
Most critics of the U.S. government today fall into one of two categories: those who feel the federal government is too powerful, and those who feel it is too weak.
Too powerful – critics argue that the government assumes too much influence, has grown too large, taxes too much, and utilizes money to coerce state and local government into complying with its mandates.
Too weak – separation of powers is the primary hindrance to a prompt, decisive, and comprehensive action by government.

31. The Declaration has four parts:
The Preamble
Declaration of Natural Rights
List of Grievances &
Resolution of Independence
As you read and review this document, realize that the political ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence underlie the fabric of our entire democracy.
The freedoms we enjoy, even take for granted at times, were originally manifested and expressed in this document.

32. Separation of Powers: Checks and Balances
Separation of powers is a political philosophy where governmental power must be divided up so as to prevent an abuse of power.
Based on the writings of Montesquieu, each branch has defined powers as well as the ability to check the powers of the other branches. This idea was called separation of powers.
In the U.S., we have adopted this philosophy by creating three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.

33. Chapter 3: The Constitution
Key Terms & Principles
Checks & Balances – each branch has the power to check and balance the operations and power of the other two branches.
Federalism – sharing of power between national & state/local levels of government
Enumerated Powers (Federal Powers) – powers exclusively belonging to the federal government (print money, declare war, make treaties)
Reserved Powers (State Powers) – powers exclusively belonging to state government (issue licenses, regulate commerce within a state)
Concurrent Powers (Shared Powers) – powers shared by both federal and state governments (tax, build roads, borrow money, creating courts)

34. Chapter 3: The Constitution
Key Terms & Principles
Federalists – nationalists, favored strong national government
Antifederalists - “states’ righters,” favored weaker national government
Bill of Rights – 1st 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that contain the core liberties and protections from government.
Habeas Corpus – a judicial order to produce an arrested person before a judge
Bill of Attainder – A law that declares a person, without trial, guilty of a crime.
Ex Post Facto – A law that makes an act criminal although it was legal at the time it was committed.

35. Chapter 3: The U.S. Constitution
Popular Sovereignty
Limited Government
Structure of the Constitution
Article I – Legislative Branch
Article II – Executive Branch
Article III – Judicial Branch
Article IV – Relations Among the States, Purpose for Constitution
Article V – Amending
Article VI – National Debts, Supremacy of Federal Law
Article VII – Ratification Procedure
Amendments – 1 through 27
Assignment: Refer to pp when completing the handout distributed.
U.S. CONSTITUTION
Separation of Powers
Federalism
Judicial Review
Checks and Balances

37. Personal assessment Level (PAL): What Are Checks & Balances in Government?
Level 4 - I got this & can explain
it to a classmate!
I can define checks and balances and give an example for each branch as they exercise the ability to check the other two branches.
Level 3 - I understand, but still not
confident.
I can define checks and balances and can think of a few examples, but am not sure if my examples are correct.
Level 2 - I’m getting there, but
need more clarification.
I can define checks and balances, but am unsure of an example for each branch of government.
Level 1 - I need help!
I don’t know what we are doing right now.

39. Personal assessment Level (PAL): Can you distinguish among federal powers, state powers, & concurrent powers?
Level 4 - I got this & can explain
it to a classmate!
I can define federal, state, and concurrent powers and give an example for each level of governmental power asserted.
Level 3 - I understand, but still not
confident.
I can define all three types of powers and can think of a few examples, but am not sure if my examples are correct.
Level 2 - I’m getting there, but
need more clarification.
I can define one or more of the powers, but cannot think of any examples.
Level 1 - I need help!
I don’t know what we are doing right now.

44. Proposed Amendment Activity
Since the signing of the U.S. Constitution, there have been over 10,000 proposed amendments. Only 27 have made it.
Are there any proposed amendments that you think that should be part of the U.S. Constitution? Some proposals include: ban on abortions, legalize marijuana, lower voting age to 16, limit president to one 6 year term, make Puerto Rico a state, ban the death penalty, & allow foreign born citizens to run for president.
Assignment: In your assigned groups, discuss possible amendment proposals, select and describe one, then list two arguments in favor and two against it becoming the 28th Amendment. Turn in when completed.
The U.S. Constitution, September 17, Bill of Rights, September 25, 1789.