United States Government: Recommended Grade Level: Grades 11 or 12

The Nature of Politics and Government

Foundations of Government in the United States

The Relationship of the United States to Other Nations in World Affairs

Roles of Citizens in the United States

Define civic life, political life, and private life and describe the activities of individuals in each of these spheres. (Individuals, Society and Culture)

Define the terms and explain the relationship between politics, government, and public policy. (Economics)

Interpret the purposes and functions of government found in the Preamble of the United States Constitution. (Economics)

Compare and contrast types of government including direct democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, and totalitarianism. (History; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Compare and contrast characteristics of limited and unlimited governments and provide historical and contemporary examples of each type of government.

Compare and contrast unitary, confederate, and federal systems of government. 

Define and provide examples of constitutionalism, rule of law, limited government, and popular sovereignty in the United States Constitution and explain the relationship of these constitutional principles to the protection of the rights of individuals. (History; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Evaluate the importance of a written constitution in establishing and maintaining the principles of rule of law and limited government.

Evaluate how the United States Constitution establishes majority rule while protecting minority rights and balances the common good with individual liberties. (History; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Summarize the colonial, revolutionary, and Founding-Era experiences and events that led to the writing, ratification, and implementation of the United States Constitution (1787) and Bill of Rights (1791). (History; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Understand the concept of compromise and evaluate its application during the Constitutional Convention.

Analyze and interpret central ideas on government, individual rights, and the common good in founding documents of the United States.

Explain the history and provide examples of foundational ideas of American government embedded in the Founding-Era documents such as: natural rights philosophy, social contract, popular sovereignty, constitutionalism, representative democracy, political factions, federalism, and individual rights.

Identify and explain elements of the social contract and natural rights theories in United States founding-era documents.

Explain how a shared American civic identity is based on commitment to foundational ideas in FoundingEra documents and in core documents of subsequent periods of United States history. (History)

Using primary documents compare and contrast the ideas of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists regarding the respective roles of state and national government on ratification of the United States Constitution (1787–1788). (History)

Explain the history and provide historical and contemporary examples of fundamental principles and values of American political and civic life, including liberty, security, the common good, justice, equality, law and order, rights of individuals, diversity, popular sovereignty, and representative democracy. (Individuals, Society and Culture)

Analyze the United States Constitution and explain characteristics of government in the United States, which define it as a federal, presidential, constitutional and representative democracy.

Explain the constitutional principles of federalism, separation of powers, the system of checks and balances, republican government or representative democracy, and popular sovereignty; provide examples of these principles in the governments of the United States and the state of Indiana. 

Identify and describe provisions of the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution that define and distribute powers and authority of the federal or state government.

Explain the relationship between limited government and a market economy. (Economics)

Explain the section of Article IV, Section 4, of the United States Constitution which says, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a Republican form of government.”

Compare and contrast the enumerated, implied and denied powers in the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution.

Explain the relationships among branches of the United States government and Indiana government, which involve separation and sharing of powers as a means to limited government.

Describe the fiscal and monetary policies incorporated by the United States government and Indiana government and evaluate how they affect individuals, groups and businesses. (Economics)

Explain how a bill becomes law in the legislative process of the United States and the state of Indiana.

Describe the procedures for amending the United States and Indiana Constitutions and analyze why it is so difficult to amend these Constitutions.

Analyze the functions of the judicial branch of the United States and Indiana governments with emphasis on the principles of due process, judicial review and an independent judiciary.

Analyze the functions of major departments of the executive branch in the United States and in Indiana. (Individuals, Society and Culture)

Explain the electoral process in terms of election laws and election systems on the national, state and local level.

Analyze the election of Benjamin Harrison, Indiana’s only president, his approach to the presidency, his relationship to the legislative branch, and his re-election defeat, considering the effects of party politics and public opinion.

Summarize the evolution of political parties and their ideologies in the American governmental system and analyze their functions in elections and government at national, state and local levels of the federal system. (History; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Explain and evaluate the original purpose and function of the Electoral College and its relevance today.

Explain the organization of state and local governments in Indiana and analyze how they affect the lives of citizens. 

Identify the role and development of special interest groups in politics and explain their impact on the development of state and local public policy. (Economics; History; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Identify the historical significance of and analyze decisions by the United States Supreme Court about the constitutional principles of separation of powers and checks and balances in such landmark cases as Marbury v. Madison (1803), Baker v. Carr (1962), United States v. Nixon (1974), Clinton v. City of New York (1998) and Bush v. Gore (2000). 

Identify the historical significance of and analyze decisions by the United States Supreme Court about the constitutional principle of federalism in cases such as McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), Alden v. Maine (1999) and the denial of certiorari for the Terri Schiavo case (2005). (History; Individuals, Society and Culture) certiorari: a writ from a high court to a low court requesting a transcript of the proceedings of a case for review

Describe the influence of the media and technology on public opinion and public policy.

Compare and contrast governments throughout the world with the United States government in terms of source of the government’s power.

Describe how different governments interact in world affairs. (Individuals, Society and Culture)

Analyze reasons for conflict among nations, such as competition for resources and territory, differences in ideology, and religious or ethnic conflicts.

Provide examples of governmental and non-governmental international organizations and explain their role in international affairs.

Analyze powers the United States Constitution gives to the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government in the area of foreign affairs. 

Identify and describe strategies available to the United States government to achieve foreign policy objectives. (Economics; Geography; History; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Examine the influence individuals, businesses, labor, and other organizations, interest groups, and public opinion has on United States foreign policy. (Economics)

Identify and explain world issues, including political, cultural, demographic, economic and environmental challenges that affect the United States foreign policy in specific regions of the world. 

Discuss specific foreign policy issues that impact local community and state interests. (Economics; Individuals, Society and Culture)

Define the legal meaning of citizenship in the United States; identify the requirements for citizenship in the United States and residency in Indiana and understand the criteria used for attaining both.

Analyze the roles and responsibilities of citizens in Indiana and the United States. (Individuals, Society and Culture)

Discuss the individual’s legal obligation to obey the law, serve as a juror, and pay taxes.

Identify and describe the civil and constitutional rights found in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights and expanded by decisions of the United States Supreme Court; analyze and evaluate landmark cases of the United States Supreme Court concerning civil rights and liberties of individuals. 

Identify when it is constitutional for our government to limit the rights of individuals and explain the reasons why the government would want to do this. (History)

Explain and give examples of important citizen actions that monitor and influence local, state, and national government as individuals and members of interest groups.

Explain how citizens in the United States participate in public elections as voters and supporters of candidates for public office. 

Describe opportunities available to individuals to contribute to the well-being of their communities and participate responsibly in the political process at local, state and national levels of government.

Use information from a variety of resources to describe and discuss current American political issues. (History, Economics, Geography)