AP Government Page

UNIT 5 - INSTITUTIONS OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

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Unit Objectives:

1. Explain the differences between a congress and a parliament.
2. Describe the characteristics of members of Congress and explain the re-election rates in the House
and Senate.
3. Identify what roles political parties play in Congress in the context of organization and how a
member votes.
4. Explain the formal powers of Congress.
5. Explain the process by which a bill becomes a law.
6. Explain the committee system.
7. Compare and contrast a president and a prime minister.
8. Describe the evolution of the presidency from 1789 to the present in terms of power.
9. List and describe the various offices that make up the executive branch.
10. Describe the leadership characteristics that make successful presidents.
11. List the formal and informal powers of the presidency.
12. Describe the relationship between the president and linkage institutions.
13. Explain how presidents get their agendas passed in Congress.
14. Describe the recruitment, retention, and demographic profiles of federal bureaucrats.
15. Explain how the bureaucracy helps make public policy.
16. Describe the relationship between the bureaucracy and the executive and legislative branches.
17. Explain why the bureaucracy is often called the fourth branch of government.
18. Explain the scope of judicial power and how the rule of law operates under the principle of judicial
review and the rule of precedent.
19. Define the dual court system and respective jurisdictions and how cases proceed through these
systems.
20. Explain the politics of appointing judges to the lower courts and Supreme Court.
21. Discuss activist courts versus courts of judicial restraint.

Articles on the Federal Deficit:

LONG-TERM BUDGET OUTLOOK
Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today by David Walker

America in 2017: Making Tough Choices Today Can Help Save Our Future by David Walker

Articles on the Supreme Court:

When Arrogance Takes the Bench by Noah Feldman

Presidential Speeches:

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON A NEW BEGINNING

Schedule:

TEXT - Chapters 11-14, 22

Day 1
Congress: Legislative Branch
Article 1
Differences between House and Senate

Day 2
Differences continued. Committees, organization of Congress, Key Committees and duties (chart)

Day 3
How a law is created (chart), Procedures

Day 4
Influences on Congress, Opinions of Congress – what do the polls tell us?
Examination of current opinion polls (data) – how can pollsters looking at the same issue arrive at totally different results? (Coordinate with the Statistics Teacher to have those students generate and administer an opinion poll.)

Day 5
Major laws created by Congress – 1883-2009.
List an examine some of the major laws enacted over the last 100 years.

Day 6
The Presidency: Executive Branch
Article 2
Read: Federalist # 70

Day 7
Constitutional duties of the President (Article 2 and Article 4, section 4)
Executive Privilege

Day 8 Thanksgiving Break
No class.

Day 9 Thanksgiving Break
No class.

Day 10 Thanksgiving Break
No class.

Day 11
The Presidency: Expansion of Presidential Power
Read: “The Two Presidencies” by Aaron Wildavsky (Woll, pp. 292-299)

Day 12
The Presidency: Expansion of Presidential Power

Day 13
Informal qualifications of the Presidency

Day 14
The Bureaucracy: “the Fourth Branch” – what is meant by this?
Read: The Rise of the Bureaucratic State” by James Q. Wilson (Woll, pp. 323-330)

Day 15
Major units of the Bureaucracy: “Iron Triangles of Power”
How to brief a Case (Handout): State the Procedure, Name the Parties, State the Facts, Sate the Issues(s), State the Holding, State the Court’s Reasoning or Rationale, and State the Dissent.
HW: Students will brief a famous U. S. Supreme Court Case and present their case to the class.

Day 16
The Supreme Court: The Judiciary
Article 3; Federalist # 78 and Anti-Federalist – Brutus # XI, XII, XV

Day 17
Judicial Review: Marbury vs. Madison
Present it using the handout - How to brief a Case: State the Procedure, Name the Parties, State the Facts, Sate the Issues(s), State the Holding, State the Court’s Reasoning or Rationale, and State the Dissent.

Day 18
The “Second Constitution” – the 14th Amendment
Read: “Annals of Law – No More Mr. Nice Guy: The Supreme Court’s stealth hard-liner” by Jeffrey Toobin (The New Yorker, May 25, 2009)
Students will present Supreme Court Cases that they have briefed.

Day 19
Structure of the Federal Court System
Students will present Supreme Court Cases that they have briefed.

Day 20
Students will present Supreme Court Cases that they have briefed.
HW: Students will read selections from A More Perfect Constitution: Why the Constitution Must Be Revised: Ideas to Inspire a New Generation by Larry Sabato and prepare for a discussion about the changes that he recommends.

Day 21
Who governs? To What Ends?
How has the role of the Federal Government changed over time 1930s-present?
Three areas: (1) The Courts – Applying the Bill of Rights; (2) Public Opinion; and (3) Political Resources – interest groups
Discussion of A More Perfect Constitution: Why the Constitution Must Be Revised: Ideas to Inspire a New Generation by Larry Sabato.

Day 22
Who governs? To What Ends?
Ways in which the Federal Government is shaped: Activist Government, Influence of Structure, Influences of Ideas
Discussion of A More Perfect Constitution: Why the Constitution Must Be Revised: Ideas to Inspire a New Generation by Larry Sabato.

Day 23
Review for Unit 5 Test.
Practice writing Free Response Questions (FRQs)

Day 24
Review for Unit 5 Test.
Practice writing Free Response Questions (FRQs)

Day 25
Unit 5 Test
15 – 20 Multiple Choice Questions
1 - FRQ