Essential Readings AP United States Government Test

Federalist 10

A faction (citizens united in a common interest) acts against the interest and rights of other citizens. To combat this, either remove the liberties and freedoms that allow factions to exist, or give everyone the same opinions. Both are impossible, so to combat the effects of factions, a large republic is needed to keep the influence of factions diluted. Competing factions would also act as a check and a balance against one another. 

Federalist 51

Checks and balances are the means by which the three branches of government will keep each other accountable and check the ambitions of the other. 

Federalist 70

The limits on the power and term of the presidency, with the prospect of re-election, would keep the president responsive to the will of the people.

Federalist 78

Arguing for the power of the Supreme Court, the idea of declaring legislation unconstitutional is the chief goal of the court. To do this, the court must recognize the constitution as fundamental law. The court would act as a check on both the executive and legislative branches in this regard. The justices tenure in office and their "good behavior" would ensure their ability to do this separate from the other branches of government.

McCulloch v Maryland

This case established supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws over state laws.

Marbury v Madison

This case established the principle of judicial review, empowering the Supreme Court to nullify an act of the legislative or executive branch that violates the Constitution.

US v Lopez

Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of a gun in a school zone a federal crime.

Baker v Carr

This case opened the door to equal protection challenges to redistricting and the development of the “one person, one vote” doctrine by ruling that challenges to redistricting did not raise “political questions” that would keep federal courts from reviewing such challenges.

The New York Times v US

This case bolstered the freedom of the press, establishing a “heavy presumption against prior restraint” even in cases involving national security

Shaw v Reno

Majority-minority districts, created under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, may be constitutionally challenged by voters if race is the only factor used in creating the district.

Tinker v Des Moines

Public school students have the right to wear black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War.

Brown v Board of Education

Declares that separate is not equal, overturning decades of segregation in education specifically and society as a result.

Roe v Wade

This case extended the right of privacy to a woman’s decision to have an abortion.

Engel v Vitale

School sponsorship of religious activities violates the establishment clause.

Gideon v Wainwright

This case guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent in a state felony case.

McDonald v Chicago

The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense is applicable to the states.

Wisconsin v Yoder

Compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade violates the free exercise clause.

Schenck v US

Speech creating a “clear and present danger” is not protected by the First Amendment.

Citizens United v FEC

Political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment.

The Declaration of Independence

This is the first official document stating not only the intent of the colonies to become independent, but also the list of grievances they had with the king of England. That list becomes the source of many of the items that make up the Bill of Rights.

The Articles of Confederation

(from the Library of Congress) The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. 

BurThe major problems with the Articles of Confederation were that the central government could collect no taxes; there was no universal currency; there was no national judiciary; and representation was by state with no consideration of population. Essentially, there was no national government under the Articles. 

Brutus I

Among the most important of the Anti-Federalist writings are the essays of Brutus.  Although it has not been definitively established, these essays are generally attributed to Robert Yates.  

Brutus I argues that the federal government would have too much power over the states. The "necessary and proper clause" as well as the Supremacy Clause would essentially over-rule anything the states would try to do.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

(from History.com) Martin L King, Jr. was arrested with 50 other protesters in Birmingham, Alabama, for violating a law preventing public gatherings. While confined, a friend smuggled in a copy of an April 12 Birmingham newspaper which included an open letter, written by eight local Christian and Jewish religious leaders, which criticized both the demonstrations and King himself, whom they considered an outside agitator. Isolated in his cell, King began working on a response. Without notes or research materials, King drafted an impassioned defense of his use of nonviolent, but direct, actions. 

Over the course of the letter’s 7,000 words, he turned the criticism back upon both the nation’s religious leaders and more moderate-minded white Americans, castigating them for sitting passively on the sidelines while King and others risked everything agitating for change.