Course Content:

Unit 1: Foundations of American Government

• What is Government?
• American Democracy
• English and Enlightenment Traditions
• American Independence
• Building the Constitution
• The U.S. Constitution
• Basic Principles of the U.S. Constitution
• Inside the Constitution
• The Bill of Rights 
• Powers Divided
• Evolution of Federalism

Unit 2: Political Behavior

• Political Parties and Voting Behavior
• Political Parties    
• Party Function and Structure
• Party Identification
• Voting Behavior and Intensity    
• Elections
• Financial Participation in Elections    
• Congressional Elections
• The Electoral College
• Presidential Elections

Unit 3: The Legislative Branch

• Structure of the House of Representatives
• Structure of the Senate
• Passage of a Bill

Unit 4: The Executive Branch

• The Nature of a President
• Presidential Roles
• The White House
• Presidential Politics, Polls, and the Press
• The Budget
• The Nature of the Bureaucracy
• The Cabinet
• Other Bureaucratic Bodies
• Checks on the Bureaucracy

Unit 5: The Judicial Branch

• The Federal Court System
• Historical Supreme Courts
• The Nature of the Supreme Court
• The Modern Supreme Court

Unit 06: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

• Incorporation
• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of the Press
• The Fourth Amendment
• Due Process and Criminal Rights
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Equality Before the Law