AP U.S. Government and Politics

• Why We Have Government
• Forms of Government
• Natural Rights and the Social Contract
• Models of Democracy
• Limited Government and the Rule of Law
• English and Colonial Roots
• The Ideas of the Declaration
• The Articles of Confederation
• The Convention and Its Compromises
• The Federalist and the Anti-Federalists
• Ratification and the Bill of Rights
• The Preamble
• Article I: The Legislative Branch
• Article II: The Executive Branch
• Article III: The Judicial Branch
• Articles IV to VII
• Separation of Powers
• Checks and Balances
• Amending the Constitution
• Dividing Power: Federal, State and Shared
• Supremacy and Necessary and Proper
• The Commerce Power
• Grants and Mandates
• Relations Among the States

Foundational documents: the Declaration, the Articles, the Constitution, Federalist No. 10 and No. 51 and Brutus No. 1 (see /american-history/federalist-papers/ and /american-history/anti-federalist-papers/). Required cases McCulloch v. Maryland and United States v. Lopez.

• The House and the Senate
• Apportionment and Redistricting
• The Powers of Congress
• Leaders of Congress
• Committees
• How a Bill Becomes a Law
• House Rules and the Senate Filibuster
• The Budget and Oversight
• How Members Represent
• Qualifications, Terms and Succession
• The President's Formal Powers
• Informal Powers and Tools
• The Federal Bureaucracy
• Holding the Bureaucracy Accountable
• Impeachment
• War Powers
• The Federal Court System
• How the Supreme Court Decides
• Judicial Review and Marbury v. Madison
• Choosing Federal Judges
• Ways of Reading the Constitution
• Checks on the Courts

Required cases Marbury v. Madison, Baker v. Carr and Shaw v. Reno; Federalist No. 70 and No. 78 are discussed in the presidency and courts lessons.

• The Bill of Rights, One by One
• Incorporation: Rights Against the States
• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of the Press
• The Right to Keep and Bear Arms
• Rights of the Accused
• Privacy and Unenumerated Rights
• Equal Protection
• Civil Rights Laws
• Widening the Vote
• Majority Rule and Minority Rights
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Sit-ins, Freedom Rides and the March on Washington

Required cases Engel v. Vitale, Wisconsin v. Yoder, Tinker v. Des Moines, Schenck v. United States, New York Times v. United States, Gideon v. Wainwright, McDonald v. Chicago, Brown v. Board of Education, and the abortion cases in strictly legal terms; the Letter from Birmingham Jail is read in U.S. History II.

• How Political Views Form
• Public Opinion and Polls
• Voting and Turnout

Ideologies are described in their own adherents' terms. Ideology and economic and social policy (how liberal, conservative and libertarian views shape fiscal and monetary policy) are covered only briefly; see the Economics Ladder for monetary and fiscal policy.

• Voting and Turnout
• Becoming a Citizen
• Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens
• Political Parties
• Primaries, Caucuses and Conventions
• The Electoral College
• Money in Campaigns
• Congressional Elections
• Interest Groups and the Media

Required case Citizens United v. FEC.