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AP US Government and Politics tutor

Political Analysis Skills

The ways of thinking this course uses from the first day: applying a political concept to a new scenario, reading tables, charts, maps, and polls to describe patterns and draw supported conclusions, reading a text or visual source for its argument and perspective, comparing a new Supreme Court case with a required precedent on a shared principle, and building a written argument with a defensible claim, evidence from foundational documents, reasoning, and a rebuttal. Topics: Applying Concepts to Scenarios, Reading Political Data, Reading Text and Visual Sources, Comparing Supreme Court Cases, Building a Political Argument.

Foundations of American Democracy

The ideas and structures the American system is built on: the democratic ideals in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address; the participatory, pluralist, and elite models of democracy; the Federalist and Anti-Federalist debate in Federalist No. Topics: Democratic Ideals and the Founding Documents, Models of Representative Democracy, Federalists and Anti-Federalists, From the Articles to the Constitution, Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances, Federalism.

Interactions Among Branches of Government

How the national government's institutions work and work against one another: the two chambers of Congress and the rules that move or stall a bill, the forces that shape how members vote, the president's formal and informal powers and the checks on them, the judiciary's independence and the power of judicial review from Federalist No. Topics: Congress: Two Chambers, How Congress Makes Law, Congressional Behavior, The Presidency, The Federal Judiciary, The Federal Bureaucracy.

Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

How the Constitution protects people against their own government, and how those protections have been argued over in court: the Bill of Rights and its extension to the states through selective incorporation (McDonald v. Topics: The Bill of Rights and Incorporation, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Balancing Liberty with Order and Safety, Due Process and the Rights of the Accused, Civil Rights Movements and Government Responses, Minority Rights, Majority Rule, and Affirmative Action.

American Political Ideologies and Beliefs

Where Americans' political beliefs come from and how they are measured and expressed: the core values of individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise (grounded in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations), and the rule of law, and how different readings of those values produce different views of government; political socialization through family, school, peers, media, and organizations, and the generational, life-cycle, and event effects that shape ideology; scientific polling and how to judge claims built on it; and how liberal, conservative, and libertarian ideologies, carried by the two major parties, shape debates over regulating the market, fiscal and monetary policy, and the government's role in social issues. Topics: Core Values and Political Culture, Political Socialization, Measuring and Evaluating Public Opinion, Ideology, Parties, and Policy.

Political Participation

How citizens' preferences reach government and how government answers: the amendments that expanded the vote and the models that describe how people decide to vote; the structural, personal, and demographic factors behind turnout; political parties as linkage institutions and how they adapt; the barriers that keep third parties from winning; interest groups, movements, and other actors competing to shape policy; presidential and congressional elections, including the Electoral College and the incumbency advantage; modern campaigns and the rules and court decisions (Citizens United v. Topics: Voting Rights and Voter Behavior, Political Parties, Interest Groups and Other Policy Actors, Elections and Campaigns, Campaign Finance, The Media.