POLI 100 Introduction to American Government and Politics
This is an introductory course, intended primarily for students
who
have
no prior background in political science. It is designed to serve
both
as a first political science course for prospective majors and as a
survey
and general education course for non-majors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Announcements:
Grades on First Midterm Test
Grades on Second Midterm Test
Due to a quirk in the Fall 2010 calander, our last day of class is
Monday, December 13 and the Combined Final Exam for both of my sections
of POLI 100 is scheduled for Wednesday, December 15. Therefore, I
think it makes sense to hold the Third Midterm Test on the
second-to-last day of class, Friday,
December 10, to give you more time to study for the final
exam. We can use Monday 12/13 for going over both Test2 and Test
3 and/or other review purposes. Major
Codes
COMBINED FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, December 15, 10:30 AM-12:300 PM, in PUP 105 (not our regular
classroom but the Lecture Hall downstairs). Important: You may have
another course (e.g., CHEM 101, ECON 102) that has a combined final
exam at the same time. If you have such a time conflict, check
with me as we approach the end of the semester; I can be flexible in
arranging alternate exam times on an individual basis.
Updated for Fall 2010: Guide to the
Third Test and Final Exam
Grades on Third Midterm Test
Grades for Second Writing Assignment, Final Exam,
and Course
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Course
Syllabus (with links to Course
Pack Readings)
Course
Syllabus [PDF]
Guide to Midterm Tests
Instructions for Writing Assignments
Questions
for First Writing Assignment
Questions
for Second Writing Assignment
General Comments on Writing Assignments
Guide to
the Third Test and Final Exam
Bulletin
Board (Q & A)
Logic of American Politics
home page
The
Declaration of Independence
The
Articles of Confederation
James
Madison's Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention
The
Constitution of the United States (National Archives)
The
Constitutional Convention (TeachingAmericanHistory.org)
Celebrating
Constitution Day (September 17, 2005) from CQ Press in Context
The
Federalist
Papers
The Founders'
Constitution
The
U.S. Constitution (including all amendments)
UMBC Political
Science Department
Instructor's
Homepage (bio, research, other courses, etc.)
Study Guides (Topics are numbered by class day,
as shown in syllabus)
PowerPoint slides used in class will be posted with each topic. To
preview or review PowerPoint slides, click on [PPT]
following the topic
name. Note: you must
have Microsoft PowerPoint on your computer
to view these slides.
No
Topic #1
Overview
No Topic #2
Instructor Out-of-Town
Topic #3
Philosophical
Origins of American Government [PPT]
Topic
#4 The
Declaration of
Independence [PPT]
Topic
#5 The
Articles of
Confederation [PPT]
Topic
#6 Framing
the
Constitution [PPT]
Topic
#7 Ratifying
the
Constitution [PPT]
Topic
#8 Democracy
and the
Constitution [Summary]
Topic
#9 The
Political Theory of
the Constitution [PPT]
Topic
#10 Amending
the
Constitution
[PPT]
Topic
#11 The Origins
of Judicial Review [PPT]
Topic
#12 The Judical
Branch: Structure
and Procedures [PPT]
Topic
#13 The Judical
Branch:
Appointments, Tenure, and
Philosophies [PPT]
Topic
#14 American
Federalism [Enhanced Study Guide]
No Topic #15
FIRST
TEST
Topic
#16 Jucial Review:
Federalism and
Economic Regulation [PPT]
Topic
#17 Judicial
Review: Civil Liberties [PPT]
Topic
#18
Judicial Review: The 14th
Amendment and
Nationalization of the Bill of
Rights [PPT]
Topic
#19 Judicial
Review: Civil Rights [PPT]
Topic
#20 Congress as
a
Representative Assembly: The
Concept
of Representation [PPT]
Topic
#21 Congress
as a
Representative Assemby: Apportionment,
Election Methods, and Districting [PPT]
Topic
#22 Congress as
a Legislative
Assembly: Organization
and
Procedures [PPT]
Topic #23
Congress as
a Legislative
Assembly: Organization
and
Procedures [cont.] [PPT]
Topic #24
Congress as a Representative and Legislative
Assembly [PPT]
Topic
#25 The
Executive Branch: The
Office of President [PPT]
Topic #26
The Executive Branch: Presidential Leadership
[PPT]
Topic
#27 The
Executive Branch:
Bureaucracy [Enhanced Study Guide]
No Topic #28 SECOND
TEST
Topic
#29 American
Political Culture [Enhanced Study
Guide]
Topic
#30 Survey
Research,
Public
Opinion, and the Media [PPT]
Topic
#31 Public
Opinion: Consensus
and Conflict [PPT]
Topic
#32 Public
Opinion:
Partisanship and Ideology [PPT]
Topic
#33 Political
Participation,
Opinions, and Democracy [PPT]
Topic
#34 Interest
Groups
[PPT]
Topic
#35 The Electoral
College [PPT]
Topic
#36
The Origins of Political Parties and the
Transformation of the
Electoral College [PPT]
Topic #37
Presidential Nominations
[PPT]
Topic
#38
Suffrage and
Voting
Turnout [PPT]
Topic #39
Presidential Campaigns and
Elections [PPT]
Topic
#40 The
American
Party System [PPT]
Topic
#41 Contemporary
Party Politics [PPT]
No Topic
#42 Catch Up and/or Review
No Topic #43
THIRD
TEST
Current Events
Washington Post
On Politics
New York Times
on
the Web (requires free registration)
CNN All Politics
PBS NewsHour
C-SPAN
BBC World Service
The Times (London)
U.S. Government
U.S. Congress
House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
The
White House
U.S. Courts
U.S.
Supreme Court
Supplementary Documents (Additional documents are
available
at the Logic of American Politics home page.)
Topic #
#1 The Prisoner's Dilemma
#2 The
Levianthan by Thomas Hobbes (1660)
#2 Frontispiece
illustration for Leviathan
#2 Second
Treatise
of Government by John Locke (1690)
#3 Declaration and
Resolves
(Continental Congress, 1774)
#3 The Causes and
Necessity
of Taking Up Arms (Continental Congress, 1775)
#3 The
Declaration of Independence Homepage (National Archives)
#3 Successive
drafts
of the Declaration of Independence (1776)
#4 Articles
of Confederation (1781-1788)
#5 Annapolis
Convention (1786)
#5
James Madison, The Vices of the Political
System of the U.S. (1787)
#5 Virginia Plan (1787)
#5 New
Jersey Plan (1787)
#5 Connecticut
Compromise (1787)
#5
First
Draft
of
the U.S. Constitution (Report of the Committee of Detail, August 6,
1787)
#5 Penultimate
Draft of the U.S. Constitution (Report of the Committee on Style,
September
12, 1787)
#5 Madison's
Notes
on the Federal Convention (1787)
#6 Federalist
Papers
(1788)
#6 Anti-Federalist Papers
(1788)
#6 James
Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance Again Religious Assessments (1785)
#6 The
Virginia
Act for Establishing Religious Freedom (Thomas Jefferson, 1786)
#7 Charles
Beard's,
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the U.S. (1913)
#8
James
Madison's Letter to Thomas Jefferson regarding the proposed Bill of
Rights
(October 17,1788)
#8 James
Madison, Federalist 10 [highlighted]
#8
James Madison, Federalist 51
[highlighted]
#9 Thomas
Jefferson's
Letter to James Madison, "The Earth Belongs to the Living" (September
6,
1789)
#9 The
Amendment
Process and Failed Constitutional Amendments
#9
Equal
Rights Amendment (1972, failed ratification)
#10 Hamilton,
Federalist 78 [highlighted]
#10 Judiciary
Act of 1789
#10 Marbury
v. Madison (1803)
#11 U.S. Federal
District Courts and Circuit Courts of Appeal
#15 McCulloch
v. Maryland (1819)
#15 Gibbons v.
Ogden
(1924)
#15 Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)
#15 National
Labor Relations Act (1935)
#15 Social Security Act (1935)
#16 On Liberty
(complete pamphlet) by John Stuart Mill (1859)
#16 Schenck v.
United
States (1919)
#16 Dennis
v. United States (1951)
#16 Yates v. U.S. (1957)
#16 Texas
v. Johnson (1989)
#17 Clarence
Earl Gideon's petition for a writ of
certiorari
#17 Gitlow
v. New York (1925)
#17 Near
v. Minnesota (1931)
#17 Powell
v. Alabama (1932)
#17 Escobedo
v. Illinois (1964)
#17 Miranda
v. Arizona (1966)
#17 Griswold
v. Connecticut (1965)
#17 Roe
v. Wade (1973)
#19 The
Northwest Ordinance (1787)
#19 Dred Scott v. Sanford
[including
concurring and dissenting opinions] (1857)
#19 Lincoln-Douglas
Debates (1858)
#19 Abraham
Lincoln's Cooper Union Address (1860)
#19 Confederate
Constitution
(1861)
#19 Emancipation
Proclamation (1863)
#19 Plessy
v. Ferguson (1896)
#19 Smith
v. Allwright (1944)
#19 Civil
Rights Acts (overview)
#19 Civil
Rights Act (1964)
#19 Voting
Rights Act (1965)
#19 Sweatt
v. Painter (1950)
#21 Congressional
Apportionment (U.S. Census Bureau)
#21 The Original Gerrymander (1812)
#21 The
Gerry-mander
-- the original cartoon (1812)
#21 Baker
v. Carr (1962)
#21 Wesberry
v. Sanders (1964)
#21 Maryland
Congressional Districts (2002)
#21 Gerry's
Gallery
#19 Thornburg
v. Gingles (1986)
#24 Contract
With America (1994)
#25 Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
#25 War
Powers Act (1973)
#25 Youngstown
Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952)
#25 United
States v. Nixon (1974)
#26 The Prince by
Machiavelli
(1515)
#27 Pendleton
Act (1883)
#27 Civil
Service Reform act (1978)
#29 Democracy
in
America by Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)
#38 People's
Party (Populist) Platform (1896)
#38 "Cross of Gold" speech
of
William Jennings Bryan (1896)
Links and Resources for Political Research
U.S. Supreme Court
Multimedia Database
Political Links (UMBC
Political
Science)
Resources for
Political
Science Research on Voting and Elections
Information
and
Research on Presidential Elections (for POLI 423
-- includes general resources)
Albin O. Kuhn (UMBC) Library home
page