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By the time you've reached your Senior year, what else is there to learn about your government? Quite a bit actually. This semester we will focus in depth on a number of topics and expand on what you've previously learned in 7th, 8th, and 11th grades.

First, in a review of years past, we will look at the reasons our ancestors, as colonial citizens of the British Empire, chose the difficult path of separation from the mother country. As most know, this couldn't have been an easy choice as 'we' were not as united as we've been led to believe and we would be fighting the 18th C. military equivalent of a superpower.

In our second unit, we will look at the finer points of a Republican form of democracy, the building blocks to our present form of government. It was only after a lengthy philosophical debate that our Founders finally agreed on the system we use today. And don't think for a moment that there weren't a few snobs who would have loved to keep all decision making to our 'aristocrats' and gentleman farmers. There were also a few that would have created a new monarchy, even hoping to bestow the title of King George 1st on Washington himself!

Next, we will focus on the finer points of Federalism, the governing system we have utilized since 1787. The creation of a national government and how much power it would have caused much concern for many of our Founders. The adoption of the 'three branch' system as well as direct and staggered elections helped to allay some fears. Another sticking point prior to adoption of the Constitution was whether the states or national government would have the greater share of power.  It was these compromises over who held governmental power that has allowed our nation to flourish and become the global power we are today.

After this solid footing, our focus will shift towards understanding the political parties from our early Federal period to the two-party system that we currently use. While we won't spend much time on the political parties of the early 1800's, we will spend a fair amount of time looking at the creation and emergence of our two current mainstream parties. In addition, the quest of 'third' or 'fringe' parties to change the political landscape over the last 200 years will be looked at.

Our next topic includes the election process itself, all the way from a citizen's interest in becoming a candidate to the election itself.  In this unit, I will introduce students to the 'shadier' side of politics , from campaign finance and PAC's, to special interest groups, think tanks and lobbyists. Unfortunately, this has become a more noticeable problem in the last few decades. Well spend a fair amount of class time discussing the ethics of campaign finance reform as well as infractions that have come to the nations attention over the last few years.

As we finish the semester, our focus will be on our responsibilities and duties as citizens of our Republic. It is in the interest of all citizens to keep our nation strong so topics such as voting, paying taxes, serving in the military or on a jury will round out the semester and hopefully inspire our seniors as many have been before them.