Creating Context
The Constitutional Structure • Landmarks in the Separation of Powers • The Three Branches Checks and Balances • Governments Around the World • Concept Vocabulary
Cluster One: How Well Does Congress Represent the People?
Thinking Skill: Inferring Information
- The Courage to Compromise (book)
- John F. Kennedy
- Dream in Color (book)
- Linda Sánchez, Loretta Sánchez, and Richard Buskin
- Life in the Senate (book)
- Stephen L. Carter
- Citizens as Powerful Lobbyists (essay)
- Lee Hamilton
- America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist (interview)
- Leslie Stahl
- American People Hire Lobbyist (humor)
- The Onion
Cluster Two: What Makes a President Great?
Thinking Skill: Evaluating Arguments
- As He Shall Judge Necessary (book)
- Akhil Reed Amar
- Great Presidential Speeches (speeches)
- George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan
- The Greatness of Lincoln (poems)
- Vachel Lindsay
- The President as Teacher-in-Chief (essay)
- Rudy Ruiz
- Listen Up, Mr. President (book)
- Helen Thomas and Craig Crawford
Cluster Three: How Does the Supreme Court Effect Change?
Thinking Skill: Summarizing Key Ideas
- The Least Dangerous Branch (essay)
- Alexander Hamilton
- Defenders Against Tyranny (book)
- Alexis de Tocqueville
- The Weakness of Courts (book)
- Stephen L. Carter
- Friends and Foes on the Supreme Court (book)
- Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher
- Legal Ethics (introduction)
- Sonia Sotomayor
- Trust in the Supreme Court (essay)
- Dahlia Lithwick
- What the Brown Decision Means (book)
- Jack Balkin
- Supreme Courtship (novel)
- Christopher Buckley
Cluster Four: Thinking on Your Own
Thinking Skill: Integrating Sources of Information
Song of the Powers (poem)
David Mason
Congressional Effectiveness
- Why Congress Deserves an “A” (essay)
- Shankar Vedantam
- A House Divided Against Itself? (essay)
- David Gergen and Michael Zuckerman
Presidential Authority
- The Inevitability of the Imperial Presidency (essay)
- Eric A. Posner
- Defending Presidential Power (court opinion)
- Clarence Thomas
Judicial Power
- The Sword and the Robe (speech)
- Thurgood Marshall
- Wanted: More Judicial Activism! (essay)
- James Huffman
