Name



Name ____________________________________ Band _________

AP GOVERNMENT

COMPLETE USING MICROSOFT WORD

DUE: August 30th EMAIL: murrowmills@

|PART ONE “US Constitution Exploration” immediately below. Use a website or printed |PART Two: “Current Events Journal” Find five articles that help you |

|constitution to learn about the constitution |answer the question, “Is the American government functioning properly?” |

|(). | |

PART ONE: EXPLORING THE CONSTITUTION

1. Read each article of the Constitution. Summarize the general purpose of each article in the chart below.

|Preamble | |

| | |

|Article I | |

| | |

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|Article II | |

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| | |

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|Article III | |

| | |

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| | |

|Article IV | |

| | |

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|Article V | |

| | |

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|Article VI | |

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|Article VII | |

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2. The powers of the Constitution that are specifically granted to the branches are called expressed powers.

A. Identify SIX expressed powers of Congress. (ARTICLE ONE)

1. __________________________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________________________________________

5. __________________________________________________________________________________

6. __________________________________________________________________________________

B. Identify FOUR expressed powers of the president. (ARTICLE TWO)

1. __________________________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________________________________________

3. Compare Article I with Article II. WHY is Article I (Congress) longer and more detailed than Article II (President)?

(3 Reasons)

1__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. According to the principle of checks and balances, each branch of the government must have the ability use one of their powers to control or limit another branches. Look at the first three articles of the Constitution and identify one of each type of checks and balances. Indicate where each power is listed in the Constitution.

A. A power that the executive branch has over the legislative branch:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

B. A power that the executive branch holds over the judicial branch.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

C. A power that the legislative branch holds over the executive branch.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

D. A power that the legislative branch holds over the judicial branch.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

E. A power that the judicial branch holds over the executive and legislative branch.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

PART II: IMPORTANT CLAUSES

1. Why is the “Commerce Clause” important to Congress?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Why is “Necessary and Proper Clause” important for Congress?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Why is the “Supremacy Clause” important to the Constitution?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. How have these clauses impacted the power of the federal government?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Part IV. THE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

Some parts of the Constitution require a simple majority, others a supermajority, while still others protect citizens from the will of the majority. The first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights protect citizens from the will of the majority. In other words, no majority could vote to take these rights away. Read each amendment to the Constitution and answer the questions below.

1. Outline and explain the purpose of THE BILL OF RIGHTS (1-10) and the other of the 17 Amendments.

BILL OF RIGHTS

|Amendment 1 | |

|Amendment 2 | |

|Amendment 3 | |

|Amendment 4 | |

|Amendment 5 | |

|Amendment 6 | |

|Amendment 7 | |

|Amendment 8 | |

|Amendment 9 | |

|Amendment 10 | |

|Amendment 11 | |

|Amendment 12 | |

|Amendment 13 | |

|Amendment 14 | |

|Amendment 15 | |

|Amendment 16 | |

|Amendment 17 | |

|Amendment 18 | |

|Amendment 19 | |

|Amendment 20 | |

|Amendment 21 | |

|Amendment 22 | |

|Amendment 23 | |

|Amendment 24 | |

|Amendment 25 | |

|Amendment 26 | |

|Amendment 27 | |

2. Categorize the 27 Amendments: “VOTING,” “ELECTIONS,” “LIBERTIES” or “ALCOHOL/OTHER”

List the meaning of the amendment, not the number.

|Voting |Elections |

| | |

|Liberties |Alcohol/Other |

| | |

PART TWO: Current Events Journal

IS THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONING PROPERLY?

DUE: August 30th Email: murrowmills@

TASK: You must write 5 editorial articles that document your reaction to NATIONAL government and political events.

- These events must occur between July 1st and August 30th 2015.

- Each editorial article must be at least 2 substantial paragraphs.

- Take a clear position for each editorial that answers the question,

“Is the American government functioning properly?”

- You must use evidence from the article

- Make sure that your writing is more analytical than descriptive.

- You must provide a properly formatted bibliographical citation for each source of information you use. If you use more than one news source to investigate an event, please provide a bibliographical citation for each source.

GUIDELINES:

Since the course is “AMERICAN Government and Politics,” your editorial articles must focus directly on substantive topics of NATIONAL government and politics.

|Congress, President, Supreme Court |Interest groups |

|Government agencies (Bureaucracy) |Public opinion and polls |

|Political parties |Campaigning / Elections |

Please read a major newspaper (on paper or on-line) frequently, even if it is only for a few minutes. Some of the best newspapers for coverage of national issues.

The New York Times ()

The Washington Post ()

LA Times ()

SF Chronicle ()

Wall St. Journal ()

Real Clear Politics ()

Slate magazine () “The Slatest” ()

**WEBSITE LINKS CAN BE FOUND AT MISTERMILLS. **

THIS SHOULD BE COMPLETED USING MICROSOFT WORD

****Guidelines for bibliography****

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Basic Format: Author. "Title of Article" Title of the Site. Editor.Date and/or Version Number. Name of Sponsoring

Institution. Date of Access .

Example: Sherman, Chris. "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About URL." SearchEngineWatch. Ed.

Danny Sullivan. 24 Aug. 2004. Accessed 4 Sept. 2004 .

Kepner, Tyler. “A Troubling Sign as the Yankees’ Ace is Sidelined Again.” New York Times. 28 April

2015. Accessed 28 April 2015<

-troubling-sign-as-the-yankees-ace-is-sidelined-again.html?ribbon-ad-idx=6&rref=collection/column/on-baseball&module=Ribbon&version=

origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=On%20Baseball&pgtype=article>

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