American National Government	Dr. Triebwasser

Historical Background

• The Declaration of Independence:
• Historical Background, Purpose, Philosophy


• The Articles of Confederation:
• Historical Background, Purpose, Philosophy


• The Constitution:
• Historical Background, Purpose, Philosophy
• The powers given the Federal government
• The Seven Articles
• The Bill of Rights
• How the Constitution seeks to prevent the excesses of tyranny;
  how the Constitution seeks to prevent the "excess of majority rule"


• Relationships between Larger and Smaller Units of Government
• Confederation, Federation, and Unitary Forms


• Aristotle's Classifications of Government:
  The six types of government, the cycle of degeneration,
  his solution, how this relates to the U.S. and British Governments

Congress

• The Representative versus the Administrative Function of Government
  
• How a Bill Becomes a Law
  
• The Major Committees in the House and in the Senate
  
• The Centralized Leadership Positions in the House and in the Senate
  
• Differences between the House and the Senate
  
• Staff Positions in Congress:
• Personal staff; committee staff; Congressional offices
• The Budgetary Process in both the executive and legislative branches
  
• The Relationship between the Executive and Legislative branches
• How presidents have sought to gain more power and
  how Congress has acted to gain back its authority

Rev.: 1/06
HTML: 1/06