Syllabus

Course News

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Day Class

Night Class

We are working on Presidency ch 12

Next written thought assignment due Feb 22.

Quiz for Monday Feb.8 on Chapter 14. Quiz For Friday the 12th on Chapters 6-7

 

Freedom of Contract 1/25

Negative liberty 1/25

sex and privacy1/21

Bill of Rights lecture 1/20

First "thinking assignment" due on Wed Jan 27

Daniel Shay's lecture

Quiz on chapters 1-3

lecture from Jan 5

We are working on Presidency ch 12

Next written thought assignment due Feb 22.

Quiz for Monday Feb.8 on Chapter 14. Quiz For Wed the 10th on Chapters 6-7

sex and privacy

Bill of Rights lecture 1/20

First "thinking assignment" due on Wed Jan 27

Daniel Shay's lecture

this week's reading: chapters 1-3

lecture from Jan 4

 

 

 

 

Course Outline

Congressional Internships

Annenberg video case studies Please go to this site and create an account.

Here is a source on what an annotated bibliography is and how to make one .

Course Abstract

This course presents a survey of the origin and development of the U.S. government. It covers the structure of the Confederacy, Federalist papers, and functions of Congress, the Presidency and Courts as well as Interest Groups, Civil Liberties, Political Parties and Political Policy.

Assignment Types

You will be asked to do three types assignments in this class:

  • Weekly Quizzes, ...................................................................20%
  • Weekly thinking.......................................................................20%
  • term long policy research. .....................................................50%
  • Random in class assignments....................................................10%

Text:

Patterson: We The People

On line readings.

Course Policies

  1. Come to class on time. If you come in late on a consistent basis I will call you out in front of class for an explanation--it will embarrass you and not me.
  2. No talking with one another while I am lecturing--I will dismiss you right out of class the first time and lower your grade .1 each time after that. If you have a question ask me. If it is not about class, don't talk about it.
  3. No playing with your laptops, pdas, phones or homework from other classes during my class. -I will dismiss you right out of class the first time and lower your grade .1 each time after that.
  4. No plagiarizing on written assignments. I provide no grace on this. I will fail you and recommend you for disciplinary action the first time you turn in a paper which is group written or palgiarize from another source. I do not even allow you to study as a group in preparation for you papers--I want each papers to reflect your individual thought, analysis and writing. I will have absolutely no mercy on this.

Daily News

It is required that you read a newspaper about politics every day. I recommend the NY Times or the Washington Post the LA Times or the Wall Street Journal as very good on National News coverage.

I also recommend that you read an "alternative" political news source. Alternative can be about:

  • Specific issues (AARP Newsletter),
  • Points of view (In These Times, Mother Jones, National Review)
  • or from foreign countries (The Economist or The Guardian).