AUSTIN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
SUBJECT/COURSE: U.S. Government
IPG: Third Six Weeks
GRADE LEVEL: 12
MAJOR CONCEPT #1: Rights and Responsibilities
Overarching
Idea
Governments are established to protect individual rights and responsibilities although these rights are
not absolute.
Guiding
Questions
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What responsibilities does the government have in protecting individual rights and freedoms?
Why can the process of carrying out justice take a long time?
How and why does a government set limits on personal rights?
Why are a person’s rights and responsibilities relative and not absolute to the rights and
responsibilities of every other person in a system of limited government?
MAJOR CONCEPT #2: Laws and Rules
Overarching Governments set up laws and rules as well as guidelines for punishing people who break these laws and
Idea
rules.
Guiding
Questions
 How does the government shape laws and rules to promote and protect the general welfare of its
citizens?
 How does a government use laws and rules to protect the rights of those accused of crimes?
 Why is the spirit of the law a debatable topic with judges and lawmakers?
MAJOR CONCEPT #3: Equality
Overarching
All citizens are equal before the law in democratic societies.
Idea
Guiding
Questions
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What makes people equal in a literal sense?
What challenges does a diverse society face in trying to keep all citizens equal before the law?
How can a government and private individuals discriminate against its own citizen?
When is it reasonable for a government to discriminate in order to regulate human behavior?
©Austin Independent School District, 2009-2010
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AUSTIN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
SUBJECT/COURSE: U.S. Government
IPG: Third Six Weeks
GRADE LEVEL: 12
MAJOR CONCEPT #4: Citizenship
Overarching
Citizenship can be attained through birth or by naturalization.
Idea
Guiding
Questions
 Why do citizens of one nation seek to become citizens of a different nation?
 Why are some of the requirements of becoming a citizen difficult to evaluate?
 How can people lose their citizenship?
MAJOR CONCEPT #5: Similarities and Differences
Overarching Although governments and economic systems differ throughout different parts of the world, each one has
Idea
a scope of civic responsibility laid out in its laws and principles.
Guiding
Questions
 How are government and economic structures in other parts of the world similar to and different from
those found in the United States?
 How can one country’s specific governmental and economic policies have a global impact?
 How can democratic governments vary from one country to another?
 How do different economic systems shape their nation’s political systems?
 How are state and local governments similar to and different from the federal government?
©Austin Independent School District, 2009-2010
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