Syllabus+-+GOVT+2301+-+spring+2009+-+3+week+mini


 * Under Construction**

Government 2301 Kevin Jefferies Office: D-225 Office Phone: 281-756-3736 email: kjefferies@alvincollege.edu class blog: []


 * GOVT 2301-M3**


 * Course Description:** This is the first of two required courses designed to familiarize students with the nature of national, state, and local government. I focus principally on the factors which led to the development of the Constitution (both U.S. and Texas), and the nature of the institutions which have evolved in the Constitution’s wake. This will involve an analysis of the basic terminology of government and politics, readings of the founding documents (The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, The U.S. and Texas Constitutions, and the Federalist Papers). We will also cover civil liberties and civil rights, outline the election system and the evolution and design of political parties, and the impact of public opinion, interest groups and the media on politics.

//This course is designed to be used by both lecture students and internet students. All assignments--weekly--are listed below and contain some for my lecture students and some for my internet students.//


 * Readings:** All of the readings in this class are available online. If you wish to use a traditional textbook, the following two are available in the bookstore:

//Lowi, Theodore, Benjamin Ginsberg and Kenneth Shepsle. American Government. 10th Edition. New York: W.W. Norton. Brown, Lyle et al. Practicing Texas Politics. 13th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.//

You will notice that I also maintain a blog where I post, more or less, daily items pertaining to the subject matter of the class. You will a link to it above. I want you to go to the page and subscribe to it. That way you will be able to receive information regarding not only what we will cover in the class, but also notices about the class itself.

Grading: A = 89.5 - 100; B = 79.5 - 89.5; C = 69.5 - 79.5; D = 59.5 - 69.5; F 59.5 - 0

Your grade will be based on the following:

Cumulative Final (20%) Outline of a Bill Before the Texas Legislature (20%)**
 * Daily Quizes (60%)


 * Daily Quizes**: At the beginning of each day we will have a quiz on the material we covered the previous day. This is meant not only to evaluate your understanding of the material but to give me an idea about how well I am communicating it. There will be no specific format for these quizes. They can be a combination of multiple choice questions, true and false questions, fill in the blanks and short answers. I will feel free to ask questions about current events as well as lecture material.


 * Cumulative Final**: On the last day of class I will give you a cumulative exam which will cover the range of material we covered in the previous lectures.


 * Outline of a Bill Before the Texas Legislature**: The Texas Legislature will be wrapping up its session while we are in class, and it would be appropriate for us to review its activities. On the first day of class we will review a list of some of the key bills passed in the session and you will be asked to thoroughly outline the bill and pay special to the political conflicts associated with it. This will include an analysis of where the various interest groups in Texas line up on the legislation as well as the nature of the members who wrote, sponsored and co-sponsored the legislation. I have been posting information on some of the bill in the legislature on my blog. You can view them by clicking on the tab labelled [|81st Session]. You can also look up bills on your own by going to the [|Texas Legislature Online]. By Tuesday May 19th I want you to decide which bill you are going to outline. I only want one person following a bill, so this will be first come first served.

I would like you to put your work on this wiki site. I want each of you to start your own page any do all of your work here. This will make it accessible to everyone. The completed work is to be at least 1000 words long and must be finished by the morning of June 3. We will discuss these repeatedly in class.

Here is the page for the bills.


 * Regarding Student Behavior:** You are adults and will be expected to act accordingly. Do not sleep or engage in idle chatter in the classroom. Unruly students will be asked to leave. I encourage active discussion, so be prepared to state your opinions and justify them. I also expect you to come to class prepared to discuss the material at hand. Be ready to be called on at any moment to answer questiosn about the subject matter. Among the Founders, proper behavior around others was considered to be a necessary mark of a civilized person and a requirement for political participation. Read through Washington's [|Rules for Civility and Decent Behavior] are a great example. Consider adopting a few.

//If you have any disabilities or other special needs that will affect your ability to learn in this class, please inform me of them. Appropriate steps will be taken to make reasonable accomodations and assiist you with your needs.//


 * Scholastic Dishonesty:** If you cheat in any way in this class and are caught, you will fail the course. Do not download items from the internet and pass them off as your own.

The links below will take you to the readings and assignments for each week.

Monday May 18: Introduction and Overview of class, Introduction of terms, Pre-test, Outline of Legislative Activity in the Texas Legislature. Tuesday May 19: Natural Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Wednesday May 20: Federalist #10 and the Violence of Factions. Thursday May 21: Friday May 22: Federalist #51 and the Separation of Powers. Monday May 25: Memorial Day Tuesday May 26: The United States Constitution. Be prepared to talk about bill. Wednesday May 27: The 10th Amendment, Federalism and the Texas Constitution. Thursday May 28: Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights. Friday May 29: Civil Rights and the Equal Protection Clause. Monday June 1: The Electoral System and The Development of Political Parties. Tuesday June 2: Public Opinion and the Media, and Interest Groups. Wednesday June 3: Papers due, Discussion of Papers, Review of Class, Final Exam

Question for Summer 2009 1. Fill in the blank: AMONG the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to: 2. What does the following phrase mean? “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” 3. Why can you not remove the causes of factions by removing the liberty which allows them to exist? 4. Re-interpret the following phrase: “As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves.” 5. The latent causes of faction are: 6. Re-interpret the following phrase: “A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.” 7. What is the most common and durable source of factions? 8. Re-interpret the following:” A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.” 9. The violence of factions can only be solved by controlling: 10. “If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by: 11. Why is a majority faction dangerous in a democracy? 12. Re-interpret the following: ” To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed.” 13. If the _ __and the__ __be suffered to coincide, we well know that neither moral nor religious motives can be relied on as an adequate control. 14. “From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction.” Why? 15. How is a republic different than a democracy? How do these difference allow republics to check the violence of factions? 16. The most dangerous type of republic is a__ _ republic. Why? 17. Re-interpret the following: ”The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.”

1. What argument was used to defend the Divine Right of the King? 2. How did John Locke argue against this doctrine? What did he replace it with? 3. As best as you can, state why Charles the First was executed. 4. Where do unalienable rights come from? 5. What is the role of government according to the Declaration of Independence? 6. What are the just powers of government based upon? 7. According to Jefferson, what was the King of Britain attempting to do? 8. List three specific grievances that the colonists had with the actions of the king. 9. The declaration in fact established the independence of the __.

1. Be able to describe the basic design of the Articles of Confederation. What was the dominant entity? 2. What problems did the Federalists have with the Articles of Confederation? 3. What was the purpose of the Annapolis Convention? Why did it fail? 4. According to the records of the Annapolis Convention, what was the purpose of the constitutional convention? 5. Founders like Elbridge Gerry argue that the Articles of Confederation were excessively democratic. What they mean? 6. What system of government did Hamilton propose to the convention? Describe its features. 7. What features of the Virginia Plan minimized the role of the states in the national government? 8. How did the New Jersey Plan strengthen the power of the states? 9. What was the Great Compromise? 10. How is slavery handled in the Constitution? 11. What was the purpose of the constitution's Preamble? 12. What does the phrase "full faith and credit" mean? 13. What does the phrase "privileges and immunities" mean? 14. Explain how amendments are added to the Constitution. 15. Explain the rationale behind the supremacy clause. 1. What factors led to the United States being a federal system? 2. Describe the pros and cons of unitary, federal and confederal systems. 3. There is an old phrase that states that the powers of the national government are few and defined and the powers of the states are many and undefined. What do you think this means? 4. What is an enumerated power? What types exist? 5. What are the reserved powers? Give examples. 6. What does the term "police powers" refer to? Why do some argue that the states ought to have these powers? 7. Explain how the elastic clauses have allowed for expansions of national power. Give examples. 8. What role does the Supreme Court play in determining the relative powers of the national and state governments? 9. What role did the 14th Amendment play in creating the constitutional basis for the expansion of national power? 10. What is Jacksonian Democracy and how does it differ from the concept of democracy that preceded it? 11. How does the design of Texas government reflect the spirit of Jacksonian Democracy? 12. How is the Texas constitutional system different than the constitutional system of the United States?

1. What is a Civil Liberty? 2. What is the Marketplace of Ideas? 3. What role did the Magna Carta and the British Bill of Rights play in developing the concept of civil liberties? 4. How exactly does the Bill of Rights establish civil liberties? 5. What arguments were made for and against the Bill of Rights during the ratification debates? 6. What is a substantive liberty? Where are they found? Give examples. 7. What is a procedural liberty? Where are they found? Give examples. 8. Describe the conflicts over the meaning and importance of the Ninth Amendment. 9. What impact did the Fourteenth Amendment have on the impact of the Bill of Rights? 10. Describe the ongoing conflict over the right to prvacy. 11. How do the courts strike a balance between the extent of individual liberty and the greater interest of society? 12. How is the Texas Bill of Rights distinct from the national Bill of Rights?

1. What is a civil right? 2. What factors made certain groups privileged in the colonial era? 3. What groups were initially successful in becoming equal members of the political community? 4. Describe the Dred Scott decision and how the Fourteenth Amendment reacted to it. 5. Fully explain the impact of the Equal Protection Clause. 6. Plessy v. Ferguson has been argued to have negated the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment. How? 7. Describe the steps between Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. What is the current status of Brown? 8. What was the impact of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts? 9. What is the difference between Strict Scrutiny, Intermediate Scrutiny and the Rational Basis test? 10. What controversies exist surrounding the use of race, gender, age, physical disabilities, and sexual orientation as ways to distinguish between individuals? 11. What lingering disputes exist concerning affirmative action? 1. Describe the establishment and evolution of the Democratic Party. 2. Describe the establishment and evolution of the Republican Party 3. Describe the establishment and evolution of third parties in American elections.