Students in grade twelve pursue a deeper understanding of the institutions of American government. They compare systems of government in the world today and analyze the life and changing interpretations of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the current state of the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of government. An emphasis is placed on analyzing the relationship among federal, state and local governments, with particular attention paid to important historical documents such as The Federalist. The curriculum will require students to master analytical skills, including chronological and spatial thinking, research, and interpretation skills.

1.  Students will explain the fundamental principles and moral values of American democracy as expressed in the U.S. Constitution and other essential documents of American democracy. (SCORE resources)

• Explain the influence of ancient Greek, Roman, English, and leading European political thinkers such as John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Nicolo Machiavelli, and William Blackstone on the development American government.
• Explain the character of American democracy and its promise and perils as articulated by Alexis de Tocqueville.
• Show how the U.S. Constitution reflects a balance between the classical republican concern with promotion of the public good and the classical liberal concern with protecting individual rights, and how the basic premises of liberal constitutionalism and democracy are joined in the Declaration of Independence, stated as "self-evident Truths."
• Explain how the Founders’ realistic view of human nature led directly to a constitutional system that limited the power of the governors and the governed as articulated in The Federalist.
• Compare the systems of separated and shared powers; the role of organized interests (The Federalist Number 10); checks and balances (The Federalist Number 51); the importance of an independent judiciary (The Federalist Number 78); enumerated powers; rule of law; federalism; and civilian control of the military. (Complete list of Federalist Papers)
• Explain the Bill of Rights as a document limiting the power of the federal government and state governments.

• Evaluate the meaning and importance of each of the rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and how each is secured (e.g., freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition, and privacy).(First Amendment Cyber-Tribune)
• Evaluate how economic rights are secured and what their importance is to the individual and to society (e.g., right to acquire, use, transfer, and dispose of property; right to choose one’s work; join or not join labor unions; copyright and patent).
• Examine the legal obligations of obeying the law, serving as a juror, and paying taxes.
• Explore the obligation of civic-mindedness including voting ("Bowling Alone" an essay about civic participation)
• Discuss the reciprocity between rights and obligations.
• Explain how one becomes a citizen of the United States, including the process of naturalization (e.g., literacy, language, and other requirements). (Citizenship Links)

• Explain how civil society provides opportunities for individuals to associate for social, cultural, religious, economic, and political purposes.
• Explore how civil society makes it possible for people, individually or in association with others, to bring their influence to bear on government in ways other than voting and elections.
• Discuss the historical role of religion and religious diversity.
• Compare the relationship of government and civil society in constitutional democracies and the relationship of government and civil society in authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.

• Examine Article I of the U. S. Constitution as it relates to the legislative branch, including eligibility for office and lengths of terms of Representatives and Senators. Study the election to office, the role of the House and Senate in impeachment proceedings, the role of the Vice President, the enumerated legislative powers, and the process by which a bill becomes a law.(SCORE Resources)
• Study the process through which the U. S. Constitution is amended. (SCORE Resources)
• Identify the student’s current representatives in the legislative branch of the national government.
• Read and discuss Article II of the U. S. Constitution as it relates to the executive branch including eligibility for office and length of term, election to (electoral college) and removal from office, the Oath of office, and the enumerated executive powers.(SCORE Resources)
• Explain Article III of the U. S. Constitution as it relates to judicial power including the length of terms of judges and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
• Explore the selection and confirmation of Supreme Court judges. (SCORE Resources)

• Understand the changing interpretations of the Bill of Rights over time, including the basic freedoms (religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly) articulated in the First Amendment, and the due process and equal protection of the law clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
• Summarize judicial activism and judicial restraint and the effects of each policy over the decades (e.g., Warren vs. Rehnquist courts).
• Analyze the effect of the interpretations of the U.S. Constitution, including Marbury v. Madison , McCulloch v. Maryland, and U.S. v. Nixon, with emphasis on the arguments espoused by each side in these cases.
• Compare the controversies that have resulted over changing interpretations of civil rights, (e.g. Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, {Adarand Constructors v. Pena} and United States v. Virginia (VMI) Escobedo v Illinois, Roe v. Wade, Shemp v. Pennsylvania).
• Research constitutional cases involving other Bill of Rights issues. (e.g. school prayer, press, Gun control, Gay rights).

• Evaluate the origin, development, and role of political parties noting those occasional periods in which there was only one major party or were more than two major parties.
• Investigate the history of the presidential candidate nomination process and increasing importance of primaries in general elections.
• Explore the role of polls, campaign advertising and the controversies over campaign funding.(Election and Media Links)
• Read and discuss the means that citizens use to participate in the political process (e.g., voting, campaigning, lobbying, filing a legal challenge, demonstrating, petitioning, picketing, and running for political office).
• Examine features of direct democracy in numerous states such as the processes of initiatives, referendums, and recall elections.
• Understand trends in voter turnout, the causes and effects of reapportionment and redistricting, with special attention to spatial districting, gerrymandering, and the rights of minorities.

• Compare checks and balances and reflect how conflicts between levels of government and branches of government are resolved.
• Review the major responsibilities and sources of revenue for state and local governments.
• Discuss the reserved powers and concurrent powers of state governments.(SCORE Resources)
• Review the Ninth and Tenth Amendments and interpretations of the extent of the federal government's power.
• Analyze how public policy is formed, including the setting of the public agenda and how it is carried out through regulations and executive orders.
• Analyze the process of lawmaking at each of the three levels of government, including the role of lobbying and the media.
• Compare the organization and jurisdiction of federal, state and local courts, and the interrelationships between the federal ,state, and local courts.
• Analyze the scope of presidential power and decision-making through the examination of case studies such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, passage of Great Society legislation, War Powers Act, Gulf War, and Bosnia.
• Describe the legal aspects of tribal sovereignty.(SCORE Resources)

• Evaluate the meaning and importance of a free and responsible press.
• Read and discuss the role of electronic, broadcast, print media, and the Internet as means of communication in American politics.
• Analyze how public officials use the media to communicate with the citizenry and to shape public opinion.(Election and Media Links)

• Describe how the philosophies and structures of various political systems function and discuss ways in which power is distributed, limited, and shared.
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of federal, confederal, and unitary systems of government.
• Explain the forms of illegitimate power that twentieth century African, Asian, and Latin American dictators used to gain and hold office and the conditions and interests that supported them.
• Compare the ideologies that give rise to communism, methods to maintain control, and the movements to overthrow such governments in Czechoslovakia, Kosovo and Poland, including the role of individuals (e.g., Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel).
• Examine new democracies in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the ideas, leaders and general societal conditions that have launched and sustained or failed to sustain them.
• Examine the impact of geopolitical influences on government priorities and policies.

• Understand the concept of majority rule and individual rights, liberty, equality, state and national authority, and civil disobedience in a federal system.