AP US Government and Politics Comprehensive Study Guide

Units to Review and weight on Exam

Foundations of American Democracy: $12-20 ext{ extit{ }}$
Interaction Among Branches of Government: $20-30 ext{ extit{ }}$
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: $15-20 ext{ extit{ }}$
American Political Ideologies and Beliefs: $10-18 ext{ extit{ }}$
Political Participation: $20-30 ext{ extit{ }}$

Required Documents and Supreme Court Cases

Primary Source Documents
The Declaration of Independence
The Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States
Federalist 10
Federalist 51
Federalist 70
Federalist 78
Brutus No. 1
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Supreme Court Cases
McCulloch v. MD
United States v. Lopez
Marbury v. Madison
Brown v. Board of Ed
Tinker v. Des Moines
Engel v. Vitale
Wisconsin v. Yoder
Schenck v. US
New York Times v. US
McDonald v. Chicago
Gideon v. Wainwright
Roe v. Wade (Note: Due to the $2022$ Dobbs case overturning Roe, it will not be assessed on the AP Exam).
Baker v. Carr
Shaw v. Reno
Citizens United v. FEC

Foundations of American Democracy

Enlightenment Era (Age of Reason)
Characterized by a great faith in human reason and capability rather than tradition.
John Locke:
Championed natural rights: Life, Liberty, and Property.
Argued government must protect these rights.
Social Contract: People have the right to revolt if the government fails to protect these rights.
Enlightenment philosophers generally favored democracy over absolute monarchy.
Three Forms of Democracy

Participatory: Encourages broad participation in politics from all individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status.
Pluralist: Driven by organized group-based activism by citizens sharing common interests.
Elitist: Discourages participation by the general majority; power is ceded to the wealthy or highly educated.

The Declaration of Independence
Authored by Thomas Jefferson.
Served as an explanation to the world for the American colonies' reasons for declaring independence.
Established a new theory of government based on equality, inalienable rights, the consent of the governed, and the right to revolt.
Heavily influenced by the ideas of John Locke.
Articles of Confederation
The first US Constitution and government framework.
Structure: Unicameral legislature where each state received $1$ vote.
Voting Requirements: A $2/3$ majority was needed to pass laws; a unanimous vote was required for amendments.
Power Distribution: Most power remained with the individual states.
Accomplishments: Established a precedent for federalism, negotiated the treaty with Great Britain (National Treaty), and passed the Northwest Ordinance.
Weaknesses: Central government could not draft soldiers, lacked an executive branch to enforce laws, lacked a judicial branch to judge laws, could not impose taxes, could not regulate interstate trade, and lacked a national currency.
Shays’ Rebellion (Massachusetts)
An armed rebellion of farmers who attacked a federal arsenal to protest farm foreclosures.
Exposed deep discontent and demonstrated that the central government was too weak to handle domestic rebellions.
The Constitutional Convention
Original goal was to amend the Articles of Confederation.
Legislature Representation: Debates between the Virginia Plan (population-based) and the New Jersey Plan (equal representation per state) resulted in the Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise).
Slavery: Resolved via the $3/5$ Compromise (slaves counted as $3/5$ of a person for representation and taxation).
Tariffs: Government granted power to tax imports but not exports.
Ratification Debates
Federalists (Hamilton, Madison, Jay): Argued the Constitution strengthened the government while protecting state autonomy.
Anti-Federalists: Feared a too-powerful national government and demanded a Bill of Rights.
Foundational Document Principles
Brutus No. 1: Criticized the Constitution; favored small republics and participatory democracy.
Federalist 10: Argued that factions are inevitable; a large republic with many factions is necessary to prevent any single faction from gaining total control and to protect minority factions.
Federalist 51: Argued that separation of powers and checks and balances would prevent any one faction or branch from taking control.
Constitutional Principles
Popular Sovereignty: Government power comes from the people (Republic, Representative/Indirect Democracy).
Separation of Powers: Division of government into branches (influenced by Charles de Montesquieu).
Checks and Balances: Mechanisms for branches to limit each other.
Judicial Review: Established in Marbury v. Madison.
Limited Government: The Rule of Law; government can only act within boundaries set by the law.
Federalism: Shared power between national and local governments.

Federalism

Types of Powers
Delegated Powers: Powers specifically assigned to the national government (Enumerated/Expressed, Implied, Inherent).
Reserved Powers: Powers held by the states under the $10$ Amendment.
Concurrent Powers: Powers shared by both state and national governments.
Denied Powers: Specific actions that government is prohibited from taking.
Supremacy Clause
Establishes that the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law of the land.
Key Federalism Supreme Court Cases
McCulloch v. Maryland: Defined implied powers via the "necessary and proper" clause; reinforced the Supremacy Clause; established that national power derives from the people, not the states.
Gibbons v. Ogden: Provided a broad definition of the national government's commerce power.
US v. Lopez: Restricted the national government's use of the commerce power.
Relations and Obligations
National Obligations to States: Guarantee a Republican form of government; protection against invasion and domestic rebellion; respect territorial integrity.
Interstate Relations:
Full Faith and Credit: States must accept public records from other states.
Privileges and Immunities: Rights of a