United States Government

Practice Standards

Content Standards

The student will apply critical thinking skills to address authentic civic issues.

The student will use interdisciplinary tools to acquire, apply, and evaluate content understanding of the four strands of social studies.

The student will engage in critical, active reading of primary and secondary sources related to social studies concepts.

The student will develop a variety of evidence- based written products designed for multiple purposes.

The student will compare the formation of contemporary governments in terms of access, use, and justification of power.

The student will describe the historical and philosophical foundations of the republican system of government in the United States.

The student will analyze the fundamental principles of the American republic, as established in the Constitution of the United States.

The student will compare the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the American government as they address the needs of the public.

The student will analyze factors affecting the political process at the local, state, and national levels of government.

The student will explain how the Constitution of the United States preserves the equal protection of rights and liberties.

Explain how freedom of expression and thought is an essential element of democracy by examining historic landmark Supreme Court decisions which have addressed and clarified individual rights under the First Amendment (e.g., Gitlow v. New York, Brandenburg v. Ohio, New York Times v. United States, and Texas v. Johnson).

The student will analyze the processes and implementation of public policy in the United States.

The student will be able to evaluate the significance of civic participation in order to ensure the preservation of constitutional government.

Demonstrate an understanding of the virtue of civil discourse to analyze and address real- world problems.

Develop practices which demonstrate an understanding that social studies involves the evaluation of evidence.

Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of government, the benefits of democratic systems, and their responsibilities as citizens.

Develop skills which demonstrate an understanding of historical events and the people who shaped our history.

Demonstrate a mastery of geographic concepts and the use of geographic tools to understand the impact of geography on the past and present.

Identify the principles of economic systems and develop an understanding of the benefits of a market system in local, national, and global settings.

Comprehend, evaluate, and synthesize textual sources to acquire and refine knowledge in the social studies.

Apply critical reading and thinking skills to interpret, evaluate, and respond to a variety of complex texts and perspectives.

Summarize and paraphrase, integrate evidence, and cite sources to create written products, research projects, and presentations for multiple purposes related to social studies content.

Engage in authentic research to acquire, refine, and share knowledge through written presentations and products.

Examine the purposes and functions of government including the establishment of sovereignty, the guarantee of law and order, and the preservation of liberty.

Analyze the essential characteristics of limited versus unlimited systems of government.

Examine the founding principles of the American republic.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of ways in which governmental power can be distributed.

Examine the role of government in a nation’s economy.

Evaluate the extent to which historical ideals and principles of human nature and authority have shaped America as a constitutional republic.

Compare points of view toward the structure and powers of government as expressed during debates over ratification of the Constitution.

Evaluate the necessity of a written constitution.

Examine how the Constitution may be considered a “living document” due to its clearly defined and intentionally rigorous amendment process, which requires super-majorities at both state and federal participation.

Analyze how the Framers designed a system of separated powers to prevent the concentration and potential abuse of power.

Analyze the American system of federalism as established by the Constitution.

Summarize and explain the relationships and responsibilities among government jurisdictions.

Analyze Tribal sovereignty, defined as a Tribal Nation’s inherent power to self-govern.

Describe the scope and powers of the legislative branch of the federal government as delineated in Article I of the Constitution.

Describe the scope and powers of the executive branch as delineated in Article II of the Constitution.

Explain the steps of the legislative process, including the role of Congress, the President, and special interests, using examples from contemporary policy making and evaluating how the process reflects democratic principles of American constitutional government.

Describe the scope and powers of the federal judiciary as delineated in Article III of the Constitutio

Analyze how citizens participate in American self-government by voting in public elections and describe factors that affect voter turnout, trends in voter turnout, and attempts to increase voter participation.

Identify the functions of political parties in elections and government at the national and state levels, by comparing political platforms of major contemporary political parties and describing how political parties influence both policymaking and the election of like-minded candidates to public office.

Trace the steps of the electoral process, including the roles of state caucuses and primaries, national conventions, and campaigns.

Describe the function and impact of political action committees on state and national elections, analyzing issues and decisions of significant court cases, such as Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Explain the function of the Electoral College, identifying different methods in which presidential electors are determined (e.g., split electoral vote versus winner-take-all).

Examine ongoing challenges to the election process, including redistricting and the practice of gerrymandering.

Describe the impact of the mass media on the political process, including the effects of media bias and issues related to public opinion polls.

Evaluate the importance of the rule of law as the principle that all citizens and institutions are to be accountable to the same laws and consequences.

Explain how the Constitution of the United States provides majority rule with equal protection for the rights of individuals, including those of the minority.

Examine the traditions and historical documents which have contributed to the American concepts of rights, liberties (e.g., English Bill of Rights, Virginia Declaration of Rights, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom).

Analyze the civil rights and civil liberties affirmed and guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

Describe the concept of American exceptionalism, which claims the United States has been uniquely exemplary (e.g., stability, realizations of liberty and civil equality, prosperity, innovation).

Analyze how the First Amendment has been used to protect religious freedom through Supreme Court decisions (e.g., West Virginia v. Barnette, Engel v. Vitale, Minersville School District v. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District).

Explain why due process rights are essential for the protection of individual rights and the maintenance of limited government by examining landmark Supreme Court cases which have specified due process rights over time (e.g., Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda v. Arizona, and Furman v. Georgia).

Describe how significant issues in American society have been addressed by examining landmark decisions (e.g., Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, McDonald v. City of Chicago, and Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health).

Explain how domestic policy is developed and implemented.

Evaluate the role of the national government in formulating and carrying out foreign policy.

Explain the constitutional and legal provisions that establish and affect citizenship, including provisions of the 14th Amendment, the naturalization process, and the concept of dual citizenship as it applies to Tribal citizens.

Define civic virtue and explain the individual’s duty and responsibility to participate in civic life.

Analyze how our system of government provides citizens with opportunities to monitor and influence government and hold elected officials accountable.

Evaluate the impact of perspectives, civil discourse, and democratic principles on addressing civic issues.

Engage in a range of deliberative and democratic processes to develop strategies to address authentic, real-world problems in community and out-of-school contexts.

Gather and evaluate information regarding complex problems, assessing individual and collective actions taken to address them.

Develop, investigate, and evaluate plausible answers to essential questions that reflect enduring understandings across time, real world circumstances, and social studies disciplines.

Evaluate points of agreement and disagreement from reliable information and expert interpretations used to answer supporting questions related to content knowledge.

Reinforce critical thinking by evaluating and challenging ideas and assumptions, analyzing and explaining inconsistencies in reasoning.

Demonstrate understanding of content through the development of self-driven inquiries and the completion of multi-staged, authentic tasks and assessments.

Evaluate various significant documents from the United States and other nations to compare civic virtues and principles of political systems.

Evaluate the impact of the structure and powers exercised by governmental systems on public policy, using historical and contemporary examples.

Analyze the impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and international agreements, by comparing how various governmental powers and responsibilities have changed over time.

Gather and evaluate the usefulness of various formats of evidence for specific inquiry, analyzing the broader historical context, and assessing potential bias and credibility of sources.

Analyze complex and interacting factors that influence multiple perspectives during different historical eras and contemporary events.

Evaluate how multiple, complex events are shaped by unique circumstances of time and place; construct and interpret parallel timelines.

Actively engage in asking and answering geographic questions by acquiring, organizing, and analyzing multiple sources of data and information about the world’s past and present.

Compare and analyze complex maps and mapping technologies to analyze spatial patterns of human and physical environments, explaining relationships between the environment and events, past and present.

Evaluate the extent to which political and economic decisions have had significant impact on human and physical environments of various places and regions.

Evaluate economic data from charts and graphs, noting trends and making predictions.

Construct arguments using a combination of evidence regarding solutions used by nations to address historical or contemporary economic issues.

Evaluate the impact, both intended and unintended, of government policies on market outcomes at national and global levels, past and present.

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, evaluating features such as author, date, and origin of information.

Analyze information from visual, oral, digital, and interactive texts (e.g., maps, charts, images, political cartoons, videos, artwork) in order to draw conclusions and defend arguments.

Evaluate the extent to which historical or cultural perspectives affect an author’s stated or implied purpose.

Evaluate the author’s point of view, potential bias, and how authors can reach different conclusions regarding the same issue.

Actively listen, evaluate, and analyze a speaker’s message, asking questions while engaged in collaborative discussions about social studies topics and texts.

Compose informative essays and written products, developing a thesis, citing and incorporating evidence from multiple sources and maintaining an organized, formal structure.

Compose argumentative written products, including a precise claim as distinguished from opposing claims, organizing logical reasoning, and providing credible evidence to develop an argument.

Develop self-generated theses or claims related to independent research and investigations using credible and relevant sources.

Integrate quotes and summaries of research findings into written products while avoiding plagiarism.

Construct presentations or products for a designated audience, using research and reasoning to enhance understanding of a topic or issue.

Compare historic and contemporary examples of unlimited systems of governments (e.g., monarchy, oligarchy, theocracy, autocracy) to examples of limited systems (e.g., direct democracy, representative democracy, constitutional monarchy).

Identify common characteristics of representative democracies (e.g., idea of natural rights and liberties, the rule of law, equality of all citizens under the law, majority rule with minority rights, the necessity of compromise).

Explain the principle of popular sovereignty which asserts that governments are created and sustained by the consent of the people who are the legitimate source of all political authority.

Analyze how the United States government reflects both a democracy and a republic.

Explain how the Constitution of the United States reflects a balance between a concern for the public good and a concern for the protection of individual rights.

Describe how the Constitution of the United States was influenced by religion, morality, and the Bible as a frequently cited authority by America's founders.

Describe the structures of unitary, federal, and confederal systems, including contemporary examples.

Compare the structure and advantages of presidential versus parliamentary systems.

Compare structural differences in terms of effectiveness, prevention of abusive power, and responsiveness to the common good.

Compare the role of government in market versus command economic systems.

Describe the American government’s limited but significant role in free enterprise, including the promotion of competition, protection of private property and consumer rights, enforcement of contracts, and access to public goods and services.

Examine how government policies in a market system can be used to stabilize and stimulate economic growth.

Summarize the influence of ancient Athenian and Roman experiences with democracy and republicanism on the principles and framing of the Constitution.

Summarize Judeo-Christian concepts of ethics and government as the basis for American civilization and law, as exemplified by the influence of the Ten Commandments on American judicial decisions.

Analyze the influence of historic documents regarding the concepts of limited government and popular sovereignty, including the Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact.

Analyze colonial-era ideas on liberty, the practice of self-government, and the influence of religious thought on influential documents (e.g., Massachusetts Body of Liberties, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom).

Describe how Enlightenment philosophy and thinkers (e.g., Locke, Montesquieu) contributed to the concept of a “social contract” and the existence of natural, inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Examine the Declaration of Independence and its grievances to explain the principle of self-rule as exercised through representative government based on the consent of the governed.

Explain the general features of the Constitution as outlined by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper No.1 and by James Madison in Federalist Paper No.10.

Compare concerns regarding centralized government as expressed in essays by the Anti-Federalists, such as Brutus Essay 1 and George Mason’s concerns regarding the lack of a national bill of rights.

Explain concerns the Founders expressed regarding democracy.

Consider ways in which the Federalist and the Anti-Federalist debates about the nature and extent of government continue through American history.

Identify and describe the purposes for government as stated by the Framers in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States.

Analyze how the Constitution of the United States safeguards against authoritarianism by establishing enumerated powers, organizing government, and distributing powers among separate branches of government, the states, and the people.

Explain why states have written constitutions and explain the relationship of state constitutions to the national constitution, including the guarantee “to every State in the Union a Republican form of Government” (Article IV, Section 4).

Describe the concept of separation of powers by explaining how the national government is divided into branches according to three basic functions: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Compare the scope of the powers vested to the Executive Branch (Article I) and Legislative Branch (Article II).

Examine the necessity of a system of checks on government authority as explained by Madison in

Federalist Paper No.51 and reflected by the claim “Ambition must be made to counter ambition.”

Explain how the checks and balances system provides each branch of government with individual powers to affect other branches, preventing any one branch from becoming too powerful.

Examine historic and contemporary examples of the system of checks and balances to illustrate the intent of the Framers and evaluate the effectiveness of the system.

Define and identify the enumerated (expressed) powers found in Article I.

Describe how the “general welfare” clause and “necessary and proper” clause have empowered Congress with implied powers.

Identify powers denied to the national government versus those reserved to the states.

Describe the reasons why the Framers established concurrent powers, comparing examples exercised by both the national and state governments.

Explain how the Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) establishes the Constitution and federal laws or treaties as the “supreme Law of the Land.”

Evaluate changes that have occurred in the relationship between the states and the national government over time (e.g., cooperative federalism versus new federalism/devolution).

Explain how local, state, national, and Tribal governments are involved in cooperatively shaping public policy and responding to public policy issues.

Compare specific functions, organizations, and purposes of local and state governments, such as ensuring personal security and health regulations.

Explain the differences among the types of local governments in Oklahoma (e.g., county, city) as well as their operational relationship with the state government.

Describe how some state constitutions, such as Oklahoma’s, provide for more direct public involvement in the legislative process through such provisions as the initiative and referendum.

Examine how the Commerce Clause established the initial nation-to-nation relationship between American Indian Tribes and the United States government, explaining how American Indian sovereignty predates the sovereignty of the United States.

Describe American Indian Tribes as self-governing entities engaged in a trust relationship which establishes a legally enforceable fiduciary obligation on the part of the United States to protect Tribal treaty rights, lands, assets, and resources.

Describe the evolution of Tribal jurisdiction over time, as a result of legislation (e.g., the Indian Reorganization Act, Major Crimes Act, Indian Child Welfare Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Indian Gaming Regulatory Act) and Supreme Court decisions (e.g., McGirt v. Oklahoma, Haaland vs. Brackeen).

Compare the composition of the United States House of Representatives to the United States Senate.

Identify the constitutional qualifications, terms of office, and compensation for members of the United States Congress, including changes created by passage of the 17th and 27th Amendments, as well as reasons which prompted such changes.

Explain why the Framers established a bicameral legislative body and how the House of Representatives functions differently from the Senate.

Identify the leadership roles of the Speaker of the House, the Senate President Pro Tempore, and majority and minority leaders, including the responsibilities of major congressional committees.

Identify the constitutional qualifications, term of office, and impeachment process for the President of the United States, including the impact of the 12th, 20th, 22nd, and 25th Amendments.

Compare the original intent of the Chief Executive's roles as described by Hamilton in Federalist Paper No.69 to the modern presidency.

Describe the function of executive departments and the federal bureaucracy, including the role of the President’s Cabinet.

Examine the purpose of independent regulatory agencies (e.g., Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission).

Describe the growth of federal agencies during the 20th century, analyzing the constitutional and statutory bases for the delegation of powers to departments or agencies of the executive branch.

Explain the length of terms, selection and confirmation process, jurisdiction, and process for the removal of Supreme Court justices.

Examine the Framers’ intent regarding the judiciary’s authority, including the principle of judicial review, as described by Hamilton in Federalist Paper No.78 and established in Marbury v. Madison.

Examine the role of district courts, the courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court in the judicial review process.

Explain the importance of an independent judicial system as integral to the interpretation and defense of citizens’ rights and liberties.

Explain how individual liberties are essential to the functioning of the American democratic society.

Examine how liberty and private property generate broad-based opportunity and prosperity in the United States.

Identify basic rights, liberties, and protections of due process protected by the Bill of Rights and subsequent constitutional amendments.

Explain how the Bill of Rights protects individuals from abuse by the national government and the extent it has been applied to the states through the doctrine of selective incorporation established by the 14th Amendment.

Identify and explain powers that the United States Constitution grants to the President and Congress to develop and carry out domestic policy.

Trace the budget process, including the impact of government shutdowns and risks from the national debt, explaining how economic trade-offs occur when addressing competing public needs.

Identify the types and purposes of taxation that are used by local, state, and federal governments to fund public services.

Examine theories related to the government's influence on the stability and growth of the economy, such as fiscal and monetary policy.

Explain different ways nations pursue their self-interests abroad, such as philosophies of isolationism versus internationalism.

Explain why and how the United States pursues its national interest and to what extent the pursuit of national interest harmonizes with the pursuit of American ideals.

Identify and explain powers that the Constitution gives to the President and Congress to conduct foreign affairs.

Describe the tools used to carry out United States foreign policy, including diplomacy, economic aid, military aid, humanitarian aid, treaties, sanctions, and military intervention.

Explain the government’s role regarding national defense, trade, and humanitarian efforts by examining contemporary commitments to international organizations and alliances.

Distinguish among the civic life (public affairs), political life (the means of influencing government), and private life of citizens.

Examine how components of civil society (e.g., active communities, individual self-reliance, ethics, religion) contribute to the maintenance of limited government in a representative and democratic republic.

Explain how civic virtue and a shared American civic identity are achieved through the deliberation about the meaning and application of our Founding documents.

Describe the right to vote as a cornerstone of a representative democracy and the most direct way for citizens to participate in the government.

Examine other political rights and responsibilities of citizens, including registering to vote, running for office, serving on juries, and participating in political campaigns.

Identify responsibilities of both citizens and residents of the United States, including obedience of the law, registration for the selective service, and payment of state and federal taxes prior to the annual deadline.

Explain how the Constitution protects citizens' ability to engage in informed public discourse as a means to monitor government officials and institutions.

Identify legal methods to advocate and influence policy (e.g., voting, peaceful protests, petitioning, contacting government officials).