AP Government Reading Assignments
Semester One
Texts:
American Government by James Wilson
Readings and Cases by Peter Woll
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
Readings:
Topic
Wilson
(Chapter)
1, 23
(maybe 24)
Woll*
WTP
(Unit)
Types of Governments/Economies; Who rules?
1, 2, 3
1
Basic Theories of Political Science
Classical Philosophies, Historical Background;
1
Classical Republicanism and Individual Rights Theory
Constitutional Convention, Compromises, Debates,
2, 3
2, 3
Historical/Political perspectives; the Constitution
Background of Civil Rights; Civil War and debate over
4
slavery, citizenship; Civil War Amendments
Civil Liberties; Supreme Court and case law; Bill of
14, 18, 19
5
Rights- historical perspectives and current controversies
Citizenship: Rights and Responsibilities; Political
6
6
behavior in the US
*Woll readings for remaining units will be added as we go.
**There will also be supplemental readings for class and for the WTP Competition.
Chapter Summaries: You are to read all of the above readings and take notes on each.
Chapter summaries will be assigned to each person. This person will be responsible for
outlining the reading and write a reading summary. These summaries will be shared with the
class and are to be another perspective on the reading- NOT a substitution for your reading!
These summaries will be a graded assignment and meant to serve as a quick reference before
the AP test and for writing practice.
Current Event Articles: The great thing about our government is that is always doing
something. You need to be aware of the world around you to gain a full understanding
of how what we talk about in class relates to the world outside GCHS. You
will need to find at least 5 current events article for each of the of the six
WTP units. For each article, you need to provide the article, the citation, a
brief summary of the article, how the article relates to the unit, and your
responses based on what you learned in class and from the readings on the
topics. These will be collected and graded at various points throughout the
semester. DO NOT PUT THESE OFF! Each article will be worth 5 points.
Advice: Do not get behind. If you have a light homework night, read ahead. Be an active reader.
Review often. Do not procrastinate! Have fun with the readings and topics. Government is fun if you
always ask yourself why and what if.