Test on Congress Tuesday April 30th

Test on Legislative Branch – It is not easy….spend the time to get ready!

50 points – Multiple Choice, Completion, and Short Answer

1. Facts about Congress (T-chart on House and Senate)

2. Congressional Districts (drew the MN districts and looked at some maps)

3. Committees – types of committees and roles of committees in the functioning of Congress. (read and took some notes)

4. Lawmaking process (chart of the steps in the process

5. Vocabulary (refer to the quiz and which terms we did poorest on)

6. Expressed powers and implied powers of Congress (assignment on powers of Congress)

7. Budget study – Vocabulary, Trends, Spending and Revenue. Don’t worry about the numbers!

8. Know the people who represent you in Congress (There are 3)

Happy Tax Day

With as many of you government students that have asked questions about taxes this semester, I thought I would post this article in honor of the upcoming Tax Day April 15th. Yes the president must pay taxes and this article mentions how much tax the Obama's owed this past year "Obama's Report Their Income Declined in 2012 Tax Returns"

Happy Tax Day,
Mr. Thompson

The Law-Making Process Firsthand

For those of you in US Government class whose favorite words are now filibuster or cloture, or have a strong liberal or conservative view on gun rights/control, here is an article for you. For those of you interested in party politics, the law-making process or just have a general interest in helping yourself do better on your next government test, this article might be for you. Senate Opens Debate on Gun Bill

Happy ICE DAY,
Mr. Thompson

Political Ideology/Philosophy Survey

Hey US Government students. Your assignment is to go to one or more of the websites and take the political philosophy or ideology surveys. Then, once you have been given your results, please write a short entry in the comments section explaining which survey you took and what you learned about yourself from the survey. Be sure to compare your results from this survey and the 25 question one we took in class. Were the results similar or different and how so?

Political Compass - this survey asks a series of questions that you may respond to. Submit your answers and your score will be plotted in a 4 quadrant graph explaining who you are.

Political Typology - respond to a series of prompts based on what you agree most with and then find out how you compare with the rest of America.

Political Survey - Read statements and check whether you agree with statement or not. Then your results will be plotted on a 4 quadrant grid explaining your politics.

Political Ideology Survey - Read statements and respond with whether you agree or not. Submit and find out your results.

Your results should be posted by midnight on Sunday April, 14th. Write it well and complete the task for 10 points.
Enjoy, Mr. Thompson

Constitution Test

See below for the review for your Constitution Test this Friday.

Constitution Review

US Govt.                40 points  Multiple Choice

                                Write 1 prompt from 2 choices 5 points

Terms to Know

Constitution                          6 Basic Principles                       Implied Powers

Preamble                                     Popular Sovereignty              Expressed Powers

        Know the 6 Goals               Federalism                             Elastic Clause

Articles                                        Separation of Powers           Necessary + Proper Clause

Amendments                               Checks + Balances                Full Faith + Credit Clause

Bill of Rights                              Limited Gov’t.                       Supremacy Clause

                                                     Judicial Review

You need to know the terms and concepts from the Amendments (you are responsible for Amendments 1-10, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 23, 24, 26.) Don’t memorize the Amendments by number.

Slander                                                  Libel                                       Petition

Probable Cause                                    Reasonable Cause                  Double Jeopardy

Freedom from Self-Incrimination    Eminent Domain

Miranda Warning                                Due Process                            Grand Jury

Trial Jury                                               Criminal                                 Civil

Bail                                                         Fine                                        Suffrage

Capital Punishment                            Poll Tax

You need to know the content of the 7 Articles. Refer to the quiz we took in class.

Be familiar with the process to add an amendment.

Parts of Constitution

You asked so here is a brief outline of the 7 Articles

Mr. Thompson

Parts of the Constitution

Article 1 – Legislative - Congress

House of Representatives + Senate

When Congress will meet

Congress makes its own rules

Privileges and salary

How laws are passed

Congress’ powers (expressed powers)

Necessary and proper clause

a.k.a. elastic clause (implied powers)

Powers denied to Congress

State’s powers

Process of impeachment

Article 2 – Executive       President + VP + Cabinet

                     Qualifications

                     Powers of the Pres

                     Impeachment

Electoral College

Article 3 – Judicial Branch

                     Supreme Court and other courts

                     Jurisdiction

                     Treason

Impeachment

Article 4 – Full faith and credit clause

Article 5 – Process to add Amendments

Article 6 – Supremacy clause

Article 7 – Ratification of Constitution

Filibuster, Rand Paul, CIA Director and Drones?

The article linked here is information about the filibuster we discussed in class today. The Senate is allowed to filibuster endlessly unless 60 Senators agree to stop the filibuster. A Republican spoke for about 13 hours Thursday (the 9th longest filibuster in our history). No vote can take place in the Senate as long as debate is continuing. As long as someone is talking, a vote can be delayed. The filibuster is a tactic usually reserved for the minority party (Republicans today) to prevent the majority (Democrats today) from passing something. In today's example, one of Pres. Obama's appointees was scheduled to be voted on by the Senate to see if that nominee should be confirmed by the Senate. An example of checks and balances that we are currently discussing.

Feel free to read and comment or just enjoy,
Mr. Thompson