POLS 100, Sections 1-6
Intro to American
Government and Politics
MWF
Professor Mikel
Wyckoff
Office: Zulauf 403
Hours: M
753-7056 mwyckoff@niu.edu
Teaching Assistants:
Section D1 (
Section D2
(Du Sable 246) Ms. Von Hagel avonhage@niu.edu
Section D3 (Du Sable 461) Mr. Gross bgross@niu.edu
Section D4 (Du Sable 459) Ms. Stone kstone4@niu.edu
Section D5 (McMurry
208) Ms. Jones jjones@niu.edu
Section D6 (
I.
INTRODUCTION
This course provides a college level introduction to the
American political system. Three general topics will be covered during the
semester: (1) politics and the democratic process in the
II.
REQUIRED
Plenty of used
copies of the following textbook should be available at either of the campus
bookstores:
Also, please note that several additional required readings
must be located online. Consult the
outline below for specific assignments. The online version of this syllabus,
available on Blackboard, contains links that will be helpful in accessing those
readings.
III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND
RULES OF THE GAME
Cell Phones & Class Decorum.
Please silence and refrain from using your cell phone and other electronic
devises during class. Also please be civil, use common sense, and respect the needs of
your fellow students, not to mention the needs of the grouchy old professor who
is trying to offer you a decent lecture each day.
General Advice. Your best strategy for
success is to attend class regularly, take good notes, keep up with the
assigned readings, and then study (!) for the exams. Study guides are
provided (see the online syllabus) but a good set of notes and a familiarity
with key readings will be your best guide to the content of the exams. If you
miss a lecture it would be wise to borrow notes from a friend or colleague who
takes good notes. Sorry, but lecture notes are not made available on Blackboard.
Exams. Three
hourly exams will be given. All will be multiple choice
in format and each will contribute 22.5% to your final grade. Even though it is
not a comprehensive final, Exam III will be administered during finals week.
Barring extraordinary circumstances everyone must take Exam III at that time.
Written Assignments (22.5% of your final grade). About
every other week you will prepare a brief essay (1-2 pages of text, typed and
double-spaced) reacting to one of the lecture topics for that week. The course
outline (below) will tell you exactly when papers are due. Papers not submitted
in person during your Friday morning
discussion session will normally receive a grade reduction of at least one
letter. Exceptions will be made for persons experiencing extraordinary circumstances
as defined below under makeup exams. These papers represent a serious
part of the course, so spelling, grammar, and sentence structure will be taken
into account when assigning grades. Also, everyone
is expected to read the discussion of plagiarism posted on Blackboard.
Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are serious offenses that may
result in serious penalties.
Participation in Discussion
Sections. Students who take the course seriously will want
to attend their Friday morning discussion sections because: (1) participation
in these meetings will contribute 10% to your final course grade; (2) your
discussion leaders are the ones who will be grading your written assignments
(worth 22.5% of your course grade); (3) this is a great chance to discuss
course issues in a small group setting.
Computing Course Grades. At
the end of the semester I will compute your final grade using the following
formula which incorporates the weights noted above:
Course
Avg. = .675(avg. grade on three exams) + .225(avg. grade on six short papers) +
.100(attendance/participation score)
Makeup exams and grades of
incomplete will be provided cheerfully when needed, but only for reasons of
significant illness, family tragedy, being away on university business, or
other extraordinary circumstances. Furthermore, evidence of the extraordinary circumstance normally must be documented by the student. Should makeup
exams be necessary, I reserve the right to switch to an essay format if I deem
it necessary.
Extra credit. Sorry, none is available. No exceptions.
If you find youre having trouble, please seek help early in the semester. My TAs and I will do our best to help you
devise strategies for improving your performance on required exams and
assignments. We cant help you, though, if you dont seek our
assistance.
Students with Disabilities. NIU abides by the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which mandates reasonable accommodations for
qualified students with disabilities. If you have a disability and require some
type of instructional accommodation, please contact the Center for
Access-Ability Resources (CAAR), located in the University Health Services
building (753-1303).
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING
ASSIGNMENTS
PART
I: POLITICS AND THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN THE
A. Organizational Issues and Basics of Government and
Politics (Week of August 25)
Read: JBGH,
John
Locke, Chapter 9 from The Second Treatise of Civil Government
(1690);
locate at: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/l/locke/john/l81s/chapter9.html
W.
Saletan, "What Reagan Got Wrong," locate at
www.slate.com/id/2101835
B. Thinking about Democracy (September 3)
Read: JBGH, Ch. 1, pp. 17-end and p. 163 (The
Model of Responsible Party Government).
Paul
Krugman, "Can it Happen
Here?" nytimes.com/2008/08/11/opinion/11krugman.html
Michael
Kranish, McCain Camp Working Out Health Care
Details,
boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/04/03/mccain_camp_working_out_healthcare_details/
Federalist Paper #10; locate at : www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm
In
Federalist 10, founding father James
Madison is worried about self-interested groups
(factions) and how to design a democratic system to protect
the nation from them. Where do
factions come from? When trying to control factions does he favor: (1) direct or indirect
democracy? (2) majority rule or
pluralistic democracy? (3) a large nation or a small
nation?
C. Public Opinion and Ideology in
Read: JBGH, Ch. 1, pp. 12-17; Ch. 4, especially pp.
91-102 & 109-end.
Thomas
Friedman, Flush with Energy nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10friedman1.html
Steve
Chapman, The Reality of Oil Prices
chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0529chapmanmay29,0,4746521.column
Steve
Chapman, Unwise Haste On Gay Marriage and
Consenting To Be Abused
chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0518chapmanmay18,0,2780437.column
chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0731chapmanjul31,0,2125073.column
Write: First, run IDEALOG at www.uspolitics.org
(do the readings and the survey you find there).
Then
write a 1-2 page essay briefly discussing the value preferences and policy
views of each
ideological type (liberal, conservative, libertarian,
communitarian). Which category best
applies to Barrack Obama? To John McCain?
To columnist Steve Chapman? Due
9/12/08.
D. Political Parties (Week of September 15)
Read: JBGH,
V.O.
Key, A Theory of Critical Elections, Journal of Politics (1955), pp. 3-8
only. Locate
at the POLS 100 Blackboard website under Course Documents.
Write:
In this article, Key proposes the concept of a critical election.
What are the essential
characteristics of a critical election? In his examination
of
choose the particular communities that appear in his
analysis (Figure A)? What do the trends
for those two communities reveal? Explain in a 1-2 page
paper due Friday, September 19.
E. Interest Group Politics (Week of September 22)
Read: JBGH, Ch. 7 and review Ch. 1, pp. 22-24
(pluralistic democracy).
EXAM
I: Friday, September 26 (administered in your discussion section room)
PART II: THE CONSTITUTION AND
BILL OF RIGHTS
A. Constitutional Origins (Week of September 29)
Read: JBGH,
Declaration of
John
Roche, The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in
Action, American Political Science
Review
(1961), Intro and Parts 2-4, pp. 799-800 and 803-811. Locate under Course
Documents at
the POLS 100 Blackboard website.
B. Constitutional Principles: Separation of
Powers/Checks and Balances and Federalism (Week of October 6)
Read: JBGH, Ch. 2, pp. 42-48, 51-end; Ch. 3, pp.
62-79, 81-end
Federalist Paper #51; locate at : www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm
Write:
Worried about the need to prevent government from becoming too powerful, in Federalist 51
checks and balances. How is this system designed to work?
One requirement is that every
branch must have a will of its own. Another is
that the separated branches must have
partially overlapping powers. Finally, one must adjust for
the fact that some branches are
naturally weak while some are strong. Discuss in a 1-2 page
paper (due Friday, Oct. 10).
D. Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights I: Selective
Incorporation; First Amendment (Week of October 13)
Read: JBGH,
Engel v. Vitale (1962); Locate at www.oyez.org.
Once at oyez, type the title of the case into
the search box in the upper right corner of the page and
click on Go. When results appear
(in a few seconds), click on the case you need. When the
title page for that case comes up,
click on Written Opinion under Case
Media. For many cases it is also possible to actually
hear the oral arguments in the case, but doing so is not
part of the assignment.
Write: Read Justice Blacks opinion of the Court
in Engel v. Vitale and Justice
Stewarts dissenting
opinion. Compare and contrast these two conflicting
interpretations of the establishment
clause. Which is most convincing to you? Why? (1-2 page
paper due Friday, October 17)
E. Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights II: Criminal
Procedure; Right to Privacy (Week of October 20)
Read: JBGH,
Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld (2004); Read the
case summary at the top; then read Section III.C.3
(all); finally, read the first paragraph in Section III.D.
Locate at: www.oyez.org
F. Civil Rights (Week of October 27)
Read: JBGH,
Loving v.
some argued that it was also unnatural for certain other
people to marry.
"The
Heterosexual Revolution," at: www.stephaniecoontz.com/articles/article21.htm. Gay
weddings challenge our traditional notions of what marriage
is all about, but what were truly
traditional marriages like, and who destroyed that
tradition?
EXAM
II: Friday, October 31 (administered in your discussion section room)
PART
III: NATIONAL POLICY MAKING INSTITUTIONS
A. The Supreme Court and Judicial Review (Week of
November 3 )
Read: JBGH,
C.
Krauthammer, "From Thomas, Original Views," locate
at:
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060901726.html
Olmstead v.
Write: Given Clarence Thomas approach to
interpreting the Constitution, how do you think he
might have voted in the Olmstead case? How would you have
voted and why? Discuss
in a 1-2 page paper due Friday, November 7.
B. Presidential and Congressional Elections (Week of
November 10)
Read: JBGH,
Federalist Paper #68 (
locate at www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm)
Jack Rakove, The
Accidental Electors,. NY Times (12/19/00). Find on
Blackboard.
Writing
in Federalist 68, Alexander Hamilton
argues that the Electoral College is a set of
procedures carefully designed by the great thinkers at the
Constitutional Convention who
thought only of selecting the best possible president. Based
on his reading of the debates
that actually occurred at the convention, scholar Jack Rakove has a different analysis.
C. The
Read: JBGH, Ch. 8 and Article I of the
Constitution, pp. A3-A6, especially sections 8 & 9.
Write: Go to thomas.loc.gov. Click on House
of Representatives, then on Committees (see
left column, both pages). Investigate several of these
standing committees. Then write a
paper explaining which committee you would like to work on
if you were a new member of
the House. Among the questions you should consider: (a) What kinds of bills would you be
dealing with? (b) How would this committee help you
represent the district from which you
were elected? (1-2 page
paper due Friday, November 28)
D. The Presidency & the Executive Branch (November
26 and Week of December 1)
Read: JBGH, Ch.
9, pp. 235-238 and Ch. 10, pp. 254-263 (executive branch organization).
JBGH, Ch. 9, pp. 229-234, 238-end and Article II, pp. A7‑A9
(pres. powers and leadership).
EXAM
III: 10:00 a.m., Monday, December 8, Location TBA
REVIEW
QUESTIONS FOR EXAM I
1. Define: government, politics, public policy. What functions do governments perform for society? What alternatives to government are available to us?
2. Be familiar with basic terms: (1) totalitarianism, libertarianism, anarchism; (2) socialism, capitalism, laissez-faire.
3. There are many ways to think about democracy and how democratic political systems work. Be familiar with the various ideas about democracy encountered in this course (in the lecture and in Chapter 1, pp. 22-27, of the textbook).
4. Be familiar with the values of freedom, order and equality as defined in the textbook and lecture.
5.
In 20th Century
6. By cross-classifying economic liberalism-conservatism with order/morality based liberalism-conservatism Janda generates four different ideological classifications. Be familiar with them (liberals, conservatives, libertarians, communitarians) and the value tradeoffs that underlie them.
7. Define "political party." What functions do political parties perform for democratic political systems, according to the lecture? Be familiar with responsible party democracy as one approach to majority rule democracy.
8.
What is a "critical" or "realigning" election and how did
V.O. Key demonstrate that critical realignment occurred in the
9. How do interest groups differ from political parties? How do interest groups try to influence public policy? What type of democracy are interest groups most likely to promote? What are the pitfalls of relying too much on interest groups to provide democracy?
10. In Federalist 10, founding father James Madison is worried about self-interested groups (factions) and how to design a democratic system to protect the nation from them. Where do factions come from? Can they be gotten rid of? In dealing with factions does he prefer: (1) direct or indirect democracy? (2) majority rule or pluralistic democracy? (3) a democracy based on a large community or a democracy based on a small community? Explain.
REVIEW
QUESTIONS FOR EXAM II
1. In the 1760s and 1770s, the British government adopted a variety of policies that greatly offended the colonists. Why, given their history, did the colonists react so negatively?
2. What body served as a national government for the colonists during the Revolutionary War? What two significant founding documents were adopted by this body (one with the help of Thomas Jefferson)?
3.
What kind of national government operated in the
4. What kinds of people attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787? What major issues were debated and what major agreements were achieved there? According to Roche, what does all of this tell us about the founders of the Constitution?
5. Worried about the
need to prevent government from getting out of control, in Federalist 51
6. Why isnt the Bill of Rights found in the main body of the Constitution? Identify: the federalists, the anti-federalists, the Federalist Papers.
7. Over the course of our history, the relative powers of the national and state governments have varied with the outcomes of presidential elections, wars, and Supreme Court decisions (e.g., McCulloch v. Maryland). Be familiar with major events and turning points discussed in the lecture on federalism.
8. Know the opinion of the Supreme Court in Barron v. Baltimore (1833). Why is Amendment 14 such an important addition to the original Bill of Rights? What does Amendment 14 have to do with the "selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights."
9. In Engle v. Vitale, the Courts majority decision and Justice Stewarts rebuttal display two different interpretations of the establishment clause. Compare and contrast these two conflicting interpretations. Which is most convincing to you? Why?
10. Know the key provisions of Amendment I (discussed in class) and how those provisions have been interpreted by the Supreme Court in Near v. Minnesota (1931), N.Y. Times v. U.S. (1971), Miller v. California (1973), Schenck v. U.S. (1919), Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971).
11. Know the key provisions of Amendments IV- VIII (discussed in class) and how those provisions have been interpreted by the Court in Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Miranda v. Arizona (1966), and Gideon v. Wainwright (1963).
12. Know how a Constitutional "right to privacy" was defined by the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and know how that right has a bearing on the decision of Roe v. Wade (1973).
13. Be familiar with major events and turning points in the struggle for racial equality (e.g., Amendments 13, 14 and 15; Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857; Civil Rights Cases, 1883; Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896; Brown v. Board of Education, 1954; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; Loving v. Virginia. 1967).
14. Be familiar with major events and turning points in the struggle for womens equality.
15. Be able to identify the basic contents (e.g., Article I defines the legislative branch of government) of Articles I - VI and Amendments 1 - 15.
REVIEW
QUESTIONS FOR EXAM III
1.
The American court system: (1) in reality we have two different court systems;
why? (2) within each system there are courts with
different functions; what are those functions and what names do the courts go
by? (3) how do judges in
2. Judicial Interpretation: (1) what is the power of judicial review, and what is the source of that power? (2) There are two general schools of thought with regard to how judges should go about interpreting the Constitution: "judicial activism" and "judicial restraint." Be familiar with the basic tenets of each.
3.
Nominations: (1) what are primary
elections and how did we come to use primaries as the principal method of
making nominations in the
4. Presidential nominations involve both primaries and conventions. Explain. What does it take to win a presidential nomination?
5.
According to
6. Be familiar with legislative reapportionment and legislative redistricting. When do these processes occur and why? Who is responsible? What is gerrymandering?
7. What factors favor incumbents in House and Senate races? Does the party of the president tend to gain or lose seats in Congress during: (1) mid-term congressional elections; (2) on-year congressional elections?
8. Bicameralism: Know the basic differences between the House and Senate.
9. Be familiar with the various stages in the legislative process: (1) introduction and referral; (2) processing in committee; (3) scheduling (e.g., by the House Rules Committee); (4) floor debate (note House and Senate differences here); (4) conference committee adjustments; (5) presentment to the president.
10. Regarding party leadership and organization: (1) what is a party caucus? (2) who are the day-to-day party leaders in the House and Senate? (3) who are the Constitutional presiding officers in each house and why are two of them relatively unimportant most of the time? (4) why is it advantageous to be a member of the majority party in Congress?
11. Know the basic rules and procedures involved in the Electoral College. What potentially undesirable outcomes can occur with this method of presidential selection? Why did the Framers of the Constitution adopt the Electoral College?
12. What are the major elements of the White House Executive Office and why are these groups sometimes more important than the Cabinet?
13. Define the term "bureaucracy." Know the major kinds of bureaucratic organizations found in the federal government (departments, independent executive agencies, independent regulatory boards, and government corporations).
14. What major Constitutional roles or powers are granted to the President in Article I and II? What other kinds of informal powers and resources are required for effective presidential leadership? Why are some presidents more successful with their legislative proposals than others?