1. Government and Civics
Things You Need To Know

2. Government Definitions
N. The Group of People who officially control a country
N. System used for controlling a country, city, or group of people
N. Activities involved in controlling a group, country, city, etc.

3. A “State” Developed from major political ideas in history:
A body of people
Living in a defined territory (official borders)
Official and Recognized Government
Sovereign
Confusing to us in the United States because we think PA, NJ, NY, Ohio, etc.
In this context, state refers to a country – however our states are much like their own countries except for the fact that they do not have sovereignty
The 50 states have essentially given up their sovereignty to create one sovereign country known as the United States

4. “A Body of People” AKA – A population
Smallest Country = Vatican City – Population: 451
Largest Country = China – Population: 1,321,851,888

5. “Living in a Defined Territory”
Clear borders or boundaries

6. Official System of Government
Politically organized in some sort of way
Usually have some form of a written Constitution
However some values/traditions may be “unwritten”
Can vary widely from country to country

7. SOVEREIGNTY Independence to rule one’s self
The absolute highest authority or power
No higher authority or power

8. Importance of Historical Thinking
The Majority of this class will be spent looking at the modern day world and our modern day country/government… HOWEVER
Critical to understand the implications of history on our world, country, and government
Imagine if you went through life only knowing what you knew the day you were born…
There is always a cause or reason for what occurs now because of what happened in past
Cause and Effect
Be Mindful of this!
Cause and Effect Video

9. Perspective/Context
Perspective! What does it mean to have perspective?
Most of us only have about years of what we remember and history and maybe another 50 years we understand decently well from being told by our family members

10. Example of Perspective
Think elections today are crazy? Ponder this thought…
Hamilton vs. Burr Dual – Political rivalries literally were settled by a gun battle.. And this wasn’t necessarily rare in that time period