UPDATES TO ON-LINE CLASS NOTES

For those who miss any of the in-class lecture experience:

Remember, all of the class lectures from which the essay exams are drawn from are on my website on the world wide web on the following links:

• Weeks 1-2 Actual Lectures, Liberal-Conservative Ideology
• Weeks 2-3 Actual Lectures, Constitutional Foundation
• Week 4, Federalism
• Weeks 5-6, Parties
• Weeks 7-8, The Presidency
• Weeks 9-10, Participation and Voting
• Weeks 10-11, Congress
• Week 12, Judiciary
• Weeks 13-14 are the Senate Judiciary Committee class simulation (choose your Senator from the committee list on the last page of the syllabus)
• Weeks 15-16, Bureaucracy, Media, Public Opinion, Interest Groups

August 20, 2025- This was the first class, so we just talked about the syllabus and format of the class. Students began choosing their books and Senators.

August 22, 2025- We talked about the 7 major components of Conservatism. See the notes for Week 1.

August 25, 2025. We talked about the 6 major components of Liberalism. See Week 1 notes.

August 27, 2025. We talked about the 3 functions of government, the early colonial and state governments, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and Shay's Rebellion. A student talked about the Model UN opportunity for student leadership.

August 29, 2025. We talked about the Great Compromise and the 3/5 Compromise. Most important, we talked about the first four steps of Checks and Balances: bills must pass both chambers of Congress in identical form; the President can veto bills passed by Congress; Congress can override a Presidential veto by a two-thirds vote of each chamber; Congress can impeach a President with a majority vote in the House, but it takes a 2/3 vote in the Senate to remove him from office.

September 3, 2025. TBA.