HGov: Why Study Government

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Why do we study government? A study of government usually brings a collective “ugh” from most students. They have had many civics lessons since elementary school and they are sure they know enough to function in society or at least know where they can find the facts necessary to answer a question.

As Americans prepared to pick the next president of the United States, a survey found that one out of three U.S. citizens failed the civics portion of the immigrant naturalization test. The survey of more than 1,000 voting-age Americans asked respondents 10 random questions from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services civics exam, which is administered as part of the immigration process, and found that 35 percent answered five or less questions correctly. More than 97 percent of immigrants applying for citizenship pass the test.

Native-born citizens scored best on questions related to history and geography and struggled most with questions about the function of government, specifically on questions about the Constitution and those that asked to identify current policy-makers. Other parts of the study show respondents were overwhelmingly confused about powers granted to the federal government and those granted to individual states.

Here are some questions that gave respondents the most trouble:
85 percent could not define “the rule of law.”
75 percent did not know function of the judicial branch.
71 percent were unable to identify the Constitution as the “supreme law of the land.”
63 percent could not name one of their state’s Senators.
62 percent did not know the name the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
62 percent could not identify the Governor of their state.
57 percent could not define an “amendment.”

We study government to become informed voters, to understand our Constitutional rights, to know our responsibilities under the law and to think about how processes can be improved to benefit society.

Summer Assignment:
1) Completed in your notebook: Chapters 1-5 Reading notes, Constitution Packet (glued or taped into notebook), Current Events entry for July 25-29, Current Events entry for August 1-5, & Current Events entry for August 8-12

Homework:
1) Current Events entry for August 15-19
2) Current Events entry for August 22-26
3) Current Events entry for August 29 – September 2
4) Chapters 1-5 Test on Thursday 9/8.

HGov: Summer’s Over

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Homework:
Chapter 1-5 reading notes due Wednesday 9/7
US Constitution worksheet packet due Wednesday 9/7
Current Events Journal – 6 articles due Wednesday 9/7
Chapters 1-5 Test on Thursday 9/8.

HGov: Summer Assignment Update 2

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Summer Assignment:
In your notebook: Chapters 1-5 Reading notes, Constitution Packet (glued or taped into notebook), Current Events entry for July 25-29, Current Events entry for August 1-5, & Current Events entry for August 8-12

Homework:
1) Current Events entry for August 15-19
2) Current Events entry for August 22-26
3) Current Events entry for August 29 – September 2

HGov: Summer Assignment Current Events Journal

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Current Events Journal

1. Title of Article:
2. Topic of Article:
3. Source (date & pages or URL):
4. WHAT GOVERNMENT INSTITUTION is this article about?
5. WHAT is this story about?
6. List four facts and/or opinions related in your article and identify them as facts or opinions.
   1. … (fact or opinion)
   2. … (fact or opinion)
   3. … (fact or opinion)
   4. … (fact or opinion)
7. WHEN did this story take place? Does it have anything to do with past events or issues? Be careful and THINK! Explain.
8. WHERE is this event or issue occurring? (Specify city, country, region, etc.)
9. HOW does this story connect to the US Constitution?
10. PREDICT what you think might happen as this story develops.
11. ASK – Write a well-developed and thoughtful question that the class can answer from information on this page. It should not be a YES or NO question.
12. ANSWER – Write, in complete sentences, a thoughtful response to your question.

Possible Current Events Journal articles: Republican and/or Democratic Party Conventions, Clinton’s email scandal, The Trump Khan feud, Candidate Polls, Supreme Court and State Voter ID laws, Changes in the Republican party, Sending domestic terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay, Presidential candidates release tax returns, etc.

HGov Chapter 5 Summary: Equal Rights

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During the past few decades, the United States has undergone a revolution in the legal status of its traditionally disadvantaged groups, including African Americans, women, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. Such groups are now provided equal protection under the law in areas such as education, employment, and voting. Discrimination by race, sex, and ethnicity has not been eliminated from American life, but it is no longer substantially backed by the force of law.

Traditionally disadvantaged Americans have achieved fuller equality primarily as a result of their struggle for greater rights. The Supreme Court has been an instrument of change for minority groups. Its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which declared racial segregation in public schools to be an unconstitutional violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection clause, was a major breakthrough in equal rights. Through its busing, affirmative action and other rulings, such as those providing equal access to the vote, the Court has also mandated the active promotion of  integration and equal opportunities.

However, because civil rights policy involves large issues of social values and the distribution of society’s resources, questions of civil rights are politically explosive. For this reason, legislatures and executives as well as the courts have been deeply involved in such issues, at times siding with established groups and sometimes backing the claims of underprivileged groups.

In recent years, affirmative action programs, programs designed to achieve equality of result for African Americans, women, Hispanic Americans, and other disadvantaged groups, have become a civil rights battleground. Affirmative action has had the strong support of civil rights groups and has won the qualified endorsement of the Supreme Court, but it has been opposed by those who claim that it unfairly discriminates against white males. Busing is another issue that has provoked deep divisions within American society.

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Summer Assignment
Read and take Cornell notes:
5.1 The Struggle for Equality (read pp.143-166)
5.2 Equality of Result (read pp.167-176)

HGov Chapter 4 Summary: Civil Liberties

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In their search for personal liberty, Americans added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution shortly after its ratification. These amendments guarantee certain political, procedural, and property rights against infringement by the national government. Freedom of expression is the most basic of democratic rights. People are not free unless they can freely express their views. Nevertheless, free expression may conflict with the nation’s security needs during times of war and insurrection. The courts at times have allowed government to limit expression substantially for purposes of national security. In recent decades, however, the courts have protected a wide range of free expression in the areas of speech, press, and religion.

The guarantees embodied in the Bill of Rights originally applied only to the national government. Under the principle of selective incorporation of these guarantees into the Fourteenth Amendment, the courts extended them to state governments, though the process was slow and uneven. In the 1920s and 1930s, First Amendment guarantees of freedom of expression were given protection from infringement by the states. The states continued to have wide discretion in criminal proceedings until the early 1960s, when most of the fair-trial rights in the Bill of Rights were given federal protection.

Due process of law refers to legal protections that have been established to preserve individual rights. The most significant form of these protections consists of procedures or methods (for example, the right of an accused person to have an attorney present during police interrogation) designed to ensure that an individual’s rights are upheld. A major controversy in this area is the breadth of the exclusionary rule, which bars the use in trials of illegally obtained evidence. The right of privacy, particularly as it applies to the abortion issue, is also a source of controversy, as is the issue of constitutional rights in the pursuit of the war on terrorism.

Civil liberties are not absolute but must be balanced against other considerations (such as national security or public safety) and against one another when different rights conflict. The judicial branch of government, particularly the Supreme Court, has taken on much of the responsibility for protecting and interpreting individual rights. The Court’s positions have changed with time and conditions, but the Court has generally been more protective of and sensitive to civil liberties than have elected officials or popular majorities.

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Summer Assignment
Read and take Cornell notes:
4.1 Freedom of Expression (read pp.105-120)
4.2 The Right of Privacy (read pp.121-123)
4.3 Rights of Persons Accused of Crimes (read pp.124-139)

HGov Chapter 3 Summary: Federalism

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A foremost characteristic of the American political system is its division of authority between a national government and state governments. The first U.S. government, established by the Articles of Confederation, was essentially a union of the states.

In establishing the basis for a stronger national government, the U.S. Constitution also made provision for safeguarding state interests. The result was the creation of a federal system in which sovereignty was vested in both national and state governments. The Constitution enumerates the general powers of the national government and grants it implied powers through the “necessary and proper” clause. Other powers are reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment.

From 1789 to 1865, the nation’s survival was at issue. The states found it convenient at times to argue that their sovereignty took precedence over national authority. In the end, it took the Civil War to cement the idea that the United States was a union of people, not of states. From 1865 to 1937, federalism reflected the doctrine that certain policy areas were the exclusive responsibility of the national government, whereas responsibility in other policy areas belonged exclusively to the states. This constitutional position validated the laissez-faire doctrine that big business was largely beyond governmental control. It also allowed the states to discriminate against African Americans in their public policies. Federalism in a form recognizable today began to emerge in the 1930s.

In the areas of commerce, taxation, spending, civil rights, and civil liberties, among others, the federal government now plays an important role, one that is the inevitable consequence of the increasing complexity of American society and the interdependence of its people. National, state, and local officials now work closely together to solve the nation’s problems, a situation known as cooperative federalism. Grants-in-aid from Washington to the states and localities have been the chief instrument of national influence. States and localities have received billions in federal assistance; in accepting federal money, they also have accepted both federal restrictions on its use and the national policy priorities that underlie the granting of the money.

In recent years, the issue of the relationship between the nation and states has again become a priority. Power has shifted downward to the states, and a new balance in the ever evolving system of U.S. federalism is being achieved. This change, like changes throughout U.S. history, has sprung forth from the demands of the American people.

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Summer Assignment
Read and take Cornell notes:
3.1 Federalism: National and State Sovereignty (read pp.71-79)
3.2 Federalism in Historical Perspective (read pp.79-88)
3.3 Federalism Today (read pp.88-100)

HGov Chapter 2 Summary: Constitutional Democracy

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The Constitution of the United States is a reflection of the colonial and revolutionary experiences of the early American. Freedom from abusive government was a reason for the colonies’ revolt against British rule, but the English tradition also provided ideas about government, power, and freedom that were expressed in the Constitution and, earlier in the Declaration of Independence.

The Constitution was designed in part to provide for limited government in which political power would be confined to proper uses. The Framers wanted to ensure that the government they were creating would not itself be a threat to freedom. To this end, they confined the national government to expressly granted powers and also denied it specific powers. Other prohibitions on government were later added to the Constitution in the form of stated guarantees of individual liberties in the Bill of Rights. The most significant constitutional provision for limited government, however, was a separation of powers among the three branches. The powers given to each branch enable it to act as a check on the exercise of power by the other two \, an arrangement that during the nation’s history has in fact served as a barrier to abuses of power.

The Constitution, however, made no mention of how the powers and limits of government were to be judged in practice. In its historic ruling in Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court assumed the authority to review the constitutionality of legislative and executive actions and to declare them unconstitutional and thus invalid.

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Summer Assignment
Read and take Cornell notes:
2.1 Before the Constitution: The Colonial and Revolutionary Experiences (read pp.37-45)
2.2 Negotiating Toward a Constitution (read pp.45-50)
2.3 Protecting Liberty: Limited Government (read pp.50-58)
2.4 Providing for Self-Government (read pp.58-66)

HGov Chapter 1 Summary: American Political Culture

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The United States is a nation that was formed on a set of ideals. Liberty, equality, and self-government are foremost among these ideals. Which also include the principles of individualism, diversity, and unity. These ideals became Americans’ common bond and today are the basis of their political culture. Although they are mythic, inexact, and conflicting, these ideals have had a powerful effect on what generation after generation of Americans has tried to achieve politically for themselves and others.

Politics in the United States plays out through rules of the game that include democracy, constitutionalism, and capitalism. Democracy is rule by the people, which in practice refers to a representative system of government in which the people rule through their elected officials. Constitutionalism refers to rules that limit the rightful power of government over citizens. Capitalism is an economic system based on a free-market principle that allows the government only a limited role in determining how economic costs and benefits will be allowed.

Politics is the process by which it is determined whose values will prevail in society. The basis of politics is conflict over scarce resources and competing values. Those who have power win out in this conflict and are able to control governing authority and policy choices. In the United States, no one faction controls all power and policy. Majorities govern on some issues, while groups, elites, and bureaucrats each govern on other issues.

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Summer Assignment
Read and take Cornell notes:
1.1 Political Culture: The Core Principles of American Government (read pp.5-18)
1.2 Politics: Resolution of Conflict (read pp.18-25)
1.3 Political Power: The Control of Policy (read pp.25-33)

HGov: Summer Assignment Update 1

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Summer Assignment:
In your notebook: Chapters 1-5 Reading notes, Constitution Packet (glued or taped into notebook), Current Events entry for July 25-29, & Current Events entry for August 1-5

Homework:
2) Current Events entry for August 8-12
3) Current Events entry for August 15-19
4) Current Events entry for August 22-26
5) Current Events entry for August 29 – September 2