Unit 1
Chapter 1 (pg. 6-12, 14-17, and 19-23) and 27 (pg. 588-598)
Big Questions and Ideas:
1. What are the four functions of government?
2. Explain the differences and similarities of the different types of government. Be able to place
each type of government on the government spectrum discussed in class.
3. What is the State of Nature? How does it help argue the idea behind the need to enter a
society with the help of a body politic?
4. What are natural rights according to Hobbes?
5. How does America define citizenship in which amendment?
6. What problem(s) emerge from majority rule? What problem(s) emerge from plurality?
7. Compare and contrast different government systems
8. Why is America’s notion of nation different and more complex than other countries’ or
nations’ notion of nation?
9. What is nationalism? How has nationalism led to the creation of new countries through selfdetermination?
10. What is the Enlightenment? How did the Enlightenment act as a catalyst for the American
Revolution?
Documents and Events:
The Leviathan- Thomas Hobbes (1651)
14th Amendment
Vocabulary:
civics
The State of Nature
naturalization
direct democracy
pure democracy
citizens
budget
totalitarian
monarchy
majority rule
immigrate
parliamentary democracy
regulation
political
The Enlightenment
republic
representative democracy
oligarchy
public policy
authoritarian
autocracy
theocracy
plurality
emigrate
nation
nationalism
Assessments:
Do Now
Worksheet- Thomas Hobbes and the State of Nature
Types of Government Worksheet
Vocabulary
Quiz
Chapter 2 (pg. 28-32, 33-38, 39-42)
Big Questions and Ideas:
11. From which political system did the American system stem? Why?
12. What was required for the Magna Carta to establish the first official rights? How did it
create a precedent for political rights?
13. What were the precedents of the Glorious Revolution?
14. Compare and contrast the common law court system to the statutory law system.
15. How is the establishment of Jamestown and Plymouth important to understanding the
colonial belief in self-government?
16. Why did mercantilism and the French and Indian War lead to colonial rebellion?
17. Why did the French and Indian War lead to the taxes on the colonists by Great Britain?
18. Why does John Locke’s social contract principle contribute to American Revolutionary
thought? Use the Declaration of Independence as evidence.
19. How did Thomas Paine interpret the events at Concord and Lexington? What led to
those events?
20. Explain the difference between how we perceive states today compared to states at the
beginning of (and right after) the American Revolution?
21. What were four main problems with the Articles of Confederation?
Documents and Events:
- The Magna Carta (1215) pg. 659
- Jamestown (1607)
- Mayflower Compact and Plymouth (1620)
- Glorious Revolution (1688)
- English Bill of Rights (1689)
- Second Treatise of Government- John Locke (1690)
- French and Indian War (1754-1763)
- Common Sense- Thomas Paine (1776)
- The Declaration of Independence- Thomas Jefferson and committee (1776)
- Articles of Confederation (1777 and ratified in 1781)
Vocabulary:
Habeas Corpus
Common Law System
colony
mercantilism
Stamp Act
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts
delegates
Lexington and Concord
bicameral and unicameral
confederation
precedent
legislature
Statutory Law
charter
House of Burgesses
Tea Act
First and Second Continental Congress
Social Contract
constitution
state
sovereignty
Assessments:
Do Now
Worksheet- The Issue of Representation: Actual and Virtual
Vocabulary
Quiz
Chapter 3 (pg. 52-54, 55-59, 82-87, 89-93)
Big Questions and Ideas:
1. Compare and contrast the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, and the Great Compromise.
2. Explain James Madison’s idea of the tyrannical majority and how a republic can help
counteract it.
3. Why did smaller states like Rhode Island fear a strong central government?
4. How did the Three-Fifths Compromise benefit both the southern and northern states?
5. How does the U.S. Constitution act as our nation’s sovereign?
6. What issues divided Federalists and Anti-Federalists?
7. How is the U.S. Constitution flexible, and why is its malleability important to American
contemporary society?
8. How does the Necessary and Proper clause expand the power of the federal government?
9. Why are separation of powers necessary for checks and balances?
Documents and Events:
- Montesquieu (1689-1755)
- Constitutional Convention (1787)
- Three-Fifths Compromise
- Electoral College
- The Federalist Papers- James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton (Publius)
- The Federalist # 10- James Madison (1787)
- June 21st, 1788
- The United States Bill of Rights (1791)
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Vocabulary:
checks and balances
ratification
Federalists
separation of powers
reserved powers
implied powers
strict interpretation
Supremacy Clause
central (federal) government
federalism
Anti-Federalists
expressed (enumerated) powers
concurrent powers
Necessary and Proper (elastic) Clause
loose interpretation
popular sovereignty
Assessments:
Do Now
Worksheet- Federalist # 10
Vocabulary
Quiz
Unit Questions to prepare and consider for the Unit Test:
1. How did the Enlightenment lead to the revolution and guide the principles behind the U.S.
Constitution? Refer to Thomas Hobbes’ state of nature, John Locke’s social contract, and
Montesquieu’s separation of powers within your essay.
2. Be able to place all events and documents discussed in chronological order to express your
understanding of precedent.
Assessment:
Unit 1 Test