United States Government
Syllabus
Fall 2005
Mr. Blazer

Required Text:

Holt American Government. Holt, Rinehart, Winston: New York,
    2001.
Primary Source Documents.
Supreme Court Cases.

Supplemental Texts:

George Orwell.  Animal Farm.

Rose, Reginald and Sherman Sergel.  Twelve Angry Men.

Crow, Chris.  Mississippi Trial, 1955.

Various others provided by teacher.

Course Description

    This is a required course usually taken during the sophomore year.  It will highlight the foundations of government, the three branches of government, examining state and local government, and literature related to contemporary issues and governmental topics.  This course will also be heavily weighted in current events.  It is imperative to keep up to date with what is going on in the world, by watching the news, reading local newspaper, and reading weekly magazines, in order to be successful in this class.  The course is designed to appeal to many different interests students may have.  There will be a variety of teaching techniques used throughout the course.  Expect every day to take lecture notes.  Some days there will be more than others.  Also expect to take part in classroom discussions.  These are very important. If you do not participate in class it will be difficult for you to do well.  

Grading Policy

    Grades for this course will be based on a variety of things.  There will be two major projects that you will complete over the course of the semester.  One will be each of the nine weeks.  Homework, test grades, memorizations, class participation, current events, and others things will constitute your grade.  The following is roughly the weight of each of these.  Keep in mind that grades will based on a point system.  Each activity will be weighted differently.  For example, tests are usually worth 200 points.  Journals can be worth 100 points.  Here is approximately the percentages of each. 

General Outline

I.   Foundations of Government

     A.    Political Theories and Theorists

    B.    Colonial Rule

    C.    Articles of Confederation

    D.    Constitution

    E.     Federalism

 II.    Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

    A.   1^st Amendment

    B.    Rights of the Accused

    C.    Privacy

    D.    Local Court Case Proceedings

III.    Campaigns and Elections

     A.    Political Party System

    B.     Political Campaigns

    C.    Election Process

    D.    Election Analysis

IV.    Congress

     A.    Powers and Duties of Congress

    B.    Role of Congress in Public Policy

    C.    How a Bill becomes a Law

    D.    History of Congress

    E.    Congress Today

V.    The President

    A.    Powers and Responsibilities

    B.    History of the Presidency

    C.    Organization of Federal Bureaucracy

    D.    The Federal Budget

 VI.    The Supreme Court

     A.    Power of the national judiciary

    B.    Structure of the court

    C.    History of the court and court cases that shaped it

 VII.      Public Policy

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