AP U.S. Government and Politics

Segment 1

• Social Contract and the source of political power in the US
• Basic Concepts of US Government-including judicial review, checks and balances, separation of powers, popular sovereignty, limited government)
• Articles of Confederation-principles and weaknesses
• Constitutional Convention-the plans and compromises
• Ratification of the Constitution- Federalist & Anti-Federalists
• Justice Marshall and the influence of the early US Supreme Court including McCulloch v Maryland and Marbury v Madison
• Individual liberties and the Bill of Rights
• Federalism and the changing roles of the national and state governments
• Funded and un-funded Mandates from the federal government to the states
• Federal funding to the states including grants and the effect of federal money on the policies of the states
• Polling-the structure, effect and bias of questions
• Voting and sources of public opinion
• Constitutional Amendments expanding the right to vote including (XIX, XV, XXIII, XXVI)
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Reforms to encourage voting
• Gender Gap
• Effects of Media on voting
• Kinds of primaries in the US
• Structure and role of political parties in elections
• Description of Third parties and their role in national politics and elections
• Role of National Conventions in elections
• Primaries and caucuses-structure and role in elections
• Advantages of incumbency in elections
• Campaign finance- rules and reforms in soft money contributions
• Structure and analysis of Electoral college system
• Role of interest groups
• Federalist Paper #10 and the role of factions in elections
• Structure and analysis of political action committees (PAC) in elections
• Role of lobbyists in elections
• Bicameral Legislature
• Structure of House of Representatives
• Reapportionment
• Powers of House and Senate
• Congressional Elections
• Advantages of Incumbency
• Term limits
• Gerrymandering
• House as Representatives of the people
• Congressional Agenda
• Legislative Strategy
• Committee Structure
• Congressional Leadership
• Congressional Rules and Informal procedure
• Congressional Voting Options and Pressures
• Pluralism and Majoritarianism
• Iron Triangles
• Presidential Constitutional Powers
• Expansion of Presidential Powers
• Who elects the president?
• Executive Office of the President
• Vice Presidency
• Presidential Cabinet
• President International Role
• Presidential Character
• Bureaucracy
• Bureaucratic Departments and Independent Agencies
• Civil Servants
• Administrative Policy Making
• Regulation V Deregulation
• Federal Court System
• Supreme Court Justices
• Judicial Restraint V Judicial Activism
• Nomination Process
• Supreme Court Operations & Procedures
• Rule of Four
• Solicitor General
• Judicial Review
• First Amendment Rights
• Second Amendment
• Fourteenth Amendment
• Judicial Incorporation
• Exclusionary Rule
• Equality in the Judicial System
• Civil War Amendments
• Civil Rights Acts
• School Segregation
• Women’s Rights and Comparable Worth
• Landmark Supreme Court Cases – Marbury vs. Madison, McCulloch vs. Maryland, Dred Scott, Miranda vs. Arizona, Gideon vs. Wainwright, Gitlow vs. New York, Engle vs. Vitale, Schenck vs. U.S., New York Times vs. Nixon, Mapp vs. Ohio, Plessy vs. Ferguson, Brown vs. Board of Education, Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Rostker vs. Goldberg, Bakke vs. University of California
• Policy Making Procedure
• Issue Networks – Social Security
• Foreign Policy Making – Presidential and Congressional Powers and Senatorial Powers
• World view of Paradigms
• Economic Policy
• Competing Economic Theory
• Reaganomics
• Economic Troika
• Budget Process
• Gramm-Rudman-Hollings bill
• Budget Enforcement Act of 1920
• Taxation

AP Course & Exam Registration Requirements

College Board requires students to register for AP exams no later than November 13th (individual schools may set earlier deadlines).

All VLACS AP students are required to enroll in the “course only” section in My AP.  Instructions for joining My AP will be posted on each VLACS course page and instructors are available to help with this process.

Students who plan to take the corresponding AP exam must arrange to take the exam at a local school that administers it. To register for an AP Exam, the local school will enroll the student in an “exam only” section in My AP.  Students should follow these steps:

• Search for a local test site through this resource of contact AP Services for Students at 888-225-5427 [email protected]. That office can give you contact information for local AP coordinators who may be willing to test outside students. Students are then responsible for contacting coordinators on that list to see if one can arrange to test for you. You should do this no later than October 2nd. Note that schools may have their own local deadlines for receiving requests from outside students to test at their school so we recommend doing this as soon as possible
• The AP coordinator who agrees to assist you must provide a join code for an “exam only” section in My AP. You’ll use the join code to join the section so that the AP coordinator can order your exam.

Please note that, if a school allows a student to register after the 11/13 deadline, there will be a $40 late exam fee. There will also be a $40 canceled/unused exam fee if a student registers and then cancels his/her exam or if the student does not show up on test day.

More information is available on the College Board’s website: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/