Unit 1:  Constitutional Underpinnings of the United States Government

Day(s)	Topics	Readings/Assignments Due
1	Course introduction; Constitution; Political Landscape
2-3	Constitution and its antecedents—Articles of Confederation, Declaration of Independence.   What influenced the formulation and adoption of the Constitution?	O’Connor Chapter 1   Woll Ch. 1:  “Second Treatise, of Civil Government” (J. Locke)   Declaration of Independence   Woll Ch. 1:  Federalist Papers # 47, 48, 51 and “How not to Read the Constitution”
4	The Constitution and its Principles	O’Connor Chapter 2 Annotated Constitution (O’Connor pp. 66-79) Socratic Seminar or Reflection Essay
5-6	Federalism and Theories of Democratic Government	O’Connor Chapter 3   Woll Ch. 2:   Federalist Papers #16, 17, 45; Anti-Federalist Papers  #17; “Merits of the Federal System”; McCullouch v. Maryland; Gibbons v. Ogden; United States v. Morrison
7		UNIT TEST