American Government is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American government course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including Insider Perspective features and a Get Connected Module that shows students how they can get engaged in the political process. The book provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of American government and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. American Government includes updated information on the 2016 presidential election.Senior Contributing AuthorsGlen Krutz (Content Lead), University of OklahomaSylvie Waskiewicz, PhD (Lead Editor)

Introductory course on American Government, designed also to prepare for the College Board's CLEP subject matter exam.

This course covers American Government: the Constitution, the branches of government (Presidency, Congress, Judiciary) and how politics works: elections, voting, parties, campaigning, policy making. In addition weęll look at how the media, interest groups, public opinion polls and political self-identification (are you liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican or something else?) impact politics and political choices. Weęll also cover the basics in economic, social and foreign policy and bring in current issues and show how they illustrate the process.

The Pre-Revolutionary Period and the Roots of the American Political Tradition
The Articles of Confederation
The Development of the Constitution
The Ratification of the Constitution
Constitutional Change

This course provides a basic history of American social, economic, and political development from the colonial period through the Civil War. It examines the colonial heritages of Spanish and British America; the American Revolution and its impact; the establishment and growth of the new nation; and the Civil War, its background, character, and impact. Readings include writings of the period by J. Winthrop, T. Paine, T. Jefferson, J. Madison, W. H. Garrison, G. Fitzhugh, H. B. Stowe, and A. Lincoln.

English III, American Literature, explores the literature of America from the narratives of the early colonists to the foundational documents of our forefathers, and the literature of our modern times. In English III, you will gain a firm grasp of the various literary periods throughout American history as well as the ability to analyze different genres and styles of notable American authors. As you progress through the course, you will gain an appreciation for American literature and an understanding of how the literature of the day acted as a reflection of the historical period from which it evolved. This course will also give you the opportunity to hone your own writing skills as you identify the characteristics of effective writing for a variety of different purposes and audiences.

This class first offers some basic analytical frameworks -- culture, social structure, and institutions -- that you can use to examine a wide range of political outcomes. We then use these frameworks to understand (1) the relationship between democracy and economic development and (2) the relative centralization of political authority across countries. We will use theoretical arguments and a wide range of case studies to address several questions: Why are some countries democratic and others not? How does democracy affect economic development and political conflict? Why do some countries centralize power while others threaten to fall apart through secession and civil war? We will use examples from a wide range of countries including Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Mexico, and the United States. The lessons drawn from these countries will prepare you to analyze other countries of your own choosing in the paper assignments. At the end of the course, you should be able to analyze political events around the world, drawing on the theoretical explanations provided in the class.

This course will introduce the student to United States history from the colonial period to the Civil War. The student will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place in America during this 250-year period. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Analyze the first encounters between the Native inhabitants of North America with Spanish, French, and English colonizers and determine the effect of European colonization on Native Americans; Describe and assess the creation of English/British America; Interpret the main social, political, and economic development of colonies in British North America, including the emergence of a slave economy; Analyze how and why an independent United States was created in 1776 by interpreting the ideological, political, and economic roots of American independence as it developed through the Seven YearsĺÎĺĺÎĺ War, the Imperial Crisis and the American Revolution; Analyze the myriad political and economic crises that plagued the Early American Republic in the 1780s and 1790s and identify and describe the expansion of slavery, partisan politics, economic innovation, westward expansion, and the outbreak of the War of 1812; Interpret the main developments of the Age of Jackson, the Indian Removal Act, the Nullification Crisis, the rise of the Whig Party, the Bank War; Interrogate the definition of 'democracy' in 1820s and 1830s America; Analyze the era of reform in antebellum America and identify and describe the emergence of new religious groups- Shakers, Mormons, evangelicals - as well as moral reformers who sought to curb alcoholism, improve the prison system, increase women's rights, end slavery, or modify the American education system; Analyze antebellum America and the emergence of sectionalism, and identify and describe how Northerners and Southerners apparently opposing viewpoints about labor systems, political economy, and race often obscured many similarities; Analyze the impact of the ideology of Manifest Destiny on the development of the American West as it affected Native Americans and white settlers; Identify and describe the West, the California Gold Rush, the Mexican War, and the contested boundary in the Pacific Northwest; Interpret how the question of slaveryĺÎĺĺÎĺs expansion affected American political parties, law, and created sectional conflict - both political and ideological - between 1820 and the 1850s; Analyze the American Civil War; identify and describe how and why the federal union that was created in 1776 collapsed in 1861; and assess the major facets of the war (including military engagements, the home fronts, Lincoln's presidency, and the question of slavery). (History 211)

This assignment is designed to engage students with the material for a Criminology/Deviance course. This assignment educates students on the ways in which the U.S. Constitution was formed from prior set's of laws and ways of thinking.