AP US Gov Summer Assignment

AP US Gov Summer Assignment

Part 1: The structure of the constitution - Read each article of the constitution. Summarize the general purpose/subject of each article and section in one sentence in the chart below. You can use any resource to help you but here is one as well: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution#

Article 1 (Legislative Branch)

Section 1:

All legislative powers will be form in a Congress which will be made from two parts, the Senate and House of Representatives

Section 2:

Requirements and limitations to members of the House of Represenatatives

Section 3:

Requirements and limitations to members of the Senate. It also includes as well how the Senate is to work (with member's role)

Section 4:

How elections of Senators should work and how regulations can be changed.

Section 5:

The responsabilities and limitations of the Houses for members and proceedings

Section 6:

Priviliges of Senators and Representatives as well as a limitation for both members of Congress

Section 7:

How bills get accepted or denied as well as how the Yeas and Nays will contribute torwards the bill.

Section 8:

The powers of Congress (what they can do)

Section 9:

Limitations of the Legislative branch

Section 10:

What a State should not do

Article 2 (Executive Branch)

Section 1:

How the president should get elected and the requirements for becoming a president

Section 2:

Responsabilities of the President

Section 3:

The President should give Congress information of the state of the union

Section 4:

When it is acceptable to remove a President or Vice President

Article 3 (Judicial Branch)

Section 1:

What the Judicial Branch consistsd of

Section 2:

Powers of the Judicial Branch

Section 3:

Requirements and limitations of Treason for the Judicial Branch

Article 4 (States, Citizenship, New States)

Section 1:

Full Faith and Credit in each state requirements

Section 2:

Rights of people between states

Section 3:

Requirements for new states

Section 4:

Guarantees for states

Article 5 (Amendment Process)

Requirements for proposing an Amendment

Article 6 (Debts, Supremacy, Oaths, and Religious Tests)

Support of the constitution

Article 7 (Ratification)

Nine states are enough to ratify the constitution

Directions: Summarize each Amendment in the Constitution in your own words

Amendment 1 (Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition)

One has the right to have the freedom of religion, speech, press and petition to the government.

Amendment 2 (Right to Bear Arms)

One has the right to own a gun

Amendment 3 (Quartering of Soldiers)

No one is forced to house a soldier inside their house without consent

Amendment 4 (Search and Seizure)

One has the right to not be serached without a valid reason

Amendment 5 (Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, Self Incrimination, Due Process, Takings)

One can't be forced to speak as a defendant and not be tried twice for the same crime. (protects defendants)

Amendment 6 (Right to Speedy Trial by Jury, Witnesses, Counsel)

A defendant has the right to have a fast and public trial

Amendment 7 (Jury Trial in Civil Lawsuits)

If you have a private case you are garuenteed a trial if the dispute involves a sum greater than $20

Amendment 8 (Excessive Fines, Cruel and Unusual Punishment)

Deals with criminal consequences not allowed

Amendment 9 (Non-Enumerated Rights Retained by People)

Certain rights that are not included in the constitution doesn't mean they don't exist

Amendment 10 (Rights Reserved to States or People)

Powers not shown in the constitution shall be given to the states or the people

Amendment 11 (Suits Against States)

One cannot sue a state or someone out of your state

Amendment 12 (Election of President and Vice President)

A President and Vice President should be elected with the greatest number of votes, if a tie then the House of Representatives should choose

Amendment 13 (Abolition of Slavery)

Slavery should be illegal and Congress has the power to enforce this

Amendment 14 (Citizenship Rights, Equal Protection, Apportionment, Civil War Debt)

All people that are born in the US are automatically citizens of the US and the state where they were born. No state can make a law that abrigades the priviliges of US citizens. Representatives need to eb apointed among several states caounting all people except non taxed indians. No one can be a Senator or Representative if previously taken an oath. The US nor states are responsible for damage cause by rebellion. Congress has the power to enforce this amendment

Amendment 15 (Right to Vote Not Denied by Race)

One cannot be denied the right to vote based on race or skin color. Congress has the power to enforce this.

Amendment 16 (Income Tax)

Congress can collect taxes on icome from any place

Amendment 17 (Popular Election of Senators)

The US Senate has to have two Senators from each state. They should be elected by the people.

Amendment 18 (Prohibition of Liquor)

After one year any form of alcohol will be banned in the United States. Congress has to enforce the article. The article can't be in place unless it is ratified

Amendment 19 (Women’s Right to Vote)

Voting cannot be denied by what gender you are (gave women the right to vote). Congress has to enforce rhis article.

Amendment 20 (Presidential Term and Succession, Assembly of Congress)

The term of the president ends at noon on the 20th day of Jan and the terms of Senators and Representatives end at noon on the 3rd day of Jan. Congress has to meet every year on the 3rd day of Jan. If the President elect dies the Vice President shall act as President until a President is chosen.

Amendment 21 (Repeal of Prohibition)

The 18th amendment is repealed with this new amendment. Alcohol is now allowed unless it violates the law in certain states. This article will not operate unless it is ratified.

Amendment 22 (Two-Term Limit on Presidency)

No person can be elected as President more than two times and no more than two years of a term who has held office of President or acted as President. The article will now operate unless it is ratified

Amendment 23 (Presidential Vote for D.C.)

Washington DC (which isn't a state) got the right to be able to vote for Presidential elections. DC shall get a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives but no more than the least populated state. Congress has to enforce this article

Amendment 24 (Abolition of Poll Taxes)

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote for failing to pay poll tax (or other taxes that inhibit voting). Congress has to enforce this

Amendment 25 (Presidential Disability and Succession)

If the President is removed from office or dies the Vice President shall become President. Whenever there is an unoccupancy in the office of the Vice President the President has to appoint one. If President writes letter that he can't do his job the Vice President has to take his place until the President can resume his job

Amendment 26 (Right to Vote at Age 18)

Citizens of the United States can vote if 18 or older. Congress has power to enforce the article.

Amendment 27 (Congressional Compensation)

No law that raises pay for Senators and Representatives may take effect unless an election of representatives shall have intervened

Part 2: Application of the Democratic Principles: Choose ONE of the following assignemtnts to complete (shown the one chosen)

Read TWO newspaper or magazine articles that relate to government
Type a half page reflection on the article. Your reflection must include:
1. The title of the article, name of the newspaper or magazine, author and date.
2. A summary of the article.
3. The following questions answered:
  1. Which branch of the government is beign discussed? How does the article reflect the power of that branch of government
  2. Which part of the constitution is beign discussed in the article?
  3. What issues are beign discussed? What reflections can be you make on who influences our government and how that influence impacts the function of the government?
  4. What is your opinion on the issues being discussed

Article Reflection 1

Title: Why Everybody’s Worried About a Recession Again
Name of newspaper: Vox
Author: Emily Stewart
Date: Aug 15, 2019
Article link:

The article "Why Everybody’s Worried About a Recession Again" by author Emily Stewart and published by the American news website Vox is about why people in the United States fear a recession for this year (2019). The article explains that on Wednesday Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell approximately 800 points which made it the worst day of 2019 (for DJIA). The article explained that the reason why many people are fearing a recession for this year is by the way that President Donald Trump announced that he would put a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese exports. An effect to this is that China stopped buying agricultural foods from the United States and allowed the Yuan (China's currency) to drop value. This is all in effect because of the trade war between China and the United States. The article also explains additional factors such as slowed business investment as well as the number one indicator for a recession an inverted yield.

The branch of government that is being discussed in this article is mainly the executive branch with President Trump being the focus (on one of the issues). This article reflects the power of the Executive branch by the way that it explains that President Trump would impose a 10% tariff on Chinese goods and shows that the Executive branch can impose tariffs on other countries. The part of the constitution that is mainly being discussed in the article is the 16th Amendment which is about how Congress can impose taxes, which is what President Trump is trying to do when he mentioned that he would impose a 10% tariff to China. The main issue being discussed in this article is mainly the possibility of a recession this year, along with this some other issues can cause that issue (of recession) which this article highlights. Some of those issues include the trade war between the US and China (includes the 10% tariff), slowing down of business investment (even with tax cuts from the Federal Reserve), and the inverted yield curve. Some reflections that I can make on who influences our government and how that influence impacts the function of the government are that other countries and the media impacts and influences the government. The US trying to impose tariffs on China makes China angry and in response they devalue the Yuan which made DJIA loose ~800 points (roughly -2.6%) and the rest of the stock market go down the whole day which greatly affected the economy that day (August 5, 2019). The economy has been going down since the start of August which has been a great result from the trade war. The US trying to gain more money from tariffs might be affecting its economy in a negative way. In my opinion these issues could have all been avoided if the US or China wasn't in a trade war with each other this directly. The decisions of both countries will greatly affect them as well as other countries that aren't directly in the trade war. In my opinion I think that President Trump is participating in this trade war to give more reasons for why he should be re-elected. I see no purpose on why the US should impose a tariff on Chinese goods other than economic gain for the US, unless China has done something previously that this was needed to be reasonably done (don't know China's side/influence very well).

Article Reflection 2

Title: Net Neutrality Has Officially Been Repealed. Here’s How That Could Affect You.
Name of newspaper: The New York Times
Author: Keith Collins
Date: June 11, 2018
Article link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/technology/net-neutrality-repeal.html

The article "Net Neutrality Has Officially Been Repealed. Here’s How That Could Affect You." by author Keith Collins which was published by the American newspaper The New York Times is about how and when Net Neutrality got repealed, it also explains what Net Neutrality protected and how it did, it also gave an explanation on what people fear if Net Neutrality is repealed by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), the article also explains how and why this repeal might not affect you (mainly because some states are making laws that somewhat keep some aspects of Net Neutrality), the article explains why the FCC supposively repealed Net Neutrality with the FCC's chairman Ajit Pai as a source, lastly it also includes what some lawmakers think about the issue.

There is no direct branch of government that this article talks about except that the FCC is a federally independent organization but if I had to choose a government branch that mostly relates to this organization it would have to be the legislative branch mainly because they are who create laws and in this case the FCC creates regulations for communication devices. As the article doesn't really discuss any branch of government but instead discusses a government agency I would say that the power of the FCC reflected in this article is major. I say this mainly because the article discusses that the FCC had the power to repeal Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality (as defined by Oxford Learner's Dictionary) is "the principle that Internet service providers should allow access to all websites and programs without trying to block or promote particular sites or products" and the FCC being able to repeal this principle really gives the agency a lot of power, as portrayed in the article. The part of the constitution that is being discussed in this article is most closely Amendment 1, even though it isn't direct the Net Neutrality principle revolves around having the freedom to communicate freely which falls under freedom of speech and freedom of the press which fall on the first Amendment. The main issue being discussed in this article is mainly the repeal of Net Neutrality by the FCC. The issue here brings a lot of ideas to the table from both supporters and opposers which depending on what decision was made it would affect both parties positively and negatively. Some reflections that I can make on who influences our government and how that impacts the function of the government is by how this single agency could make a really big decision and make it in favor of repealing Net Neutrality while a lot of people were against repealing the principle. This makes me think that this agency has a lot of power on the communication devices we use in the United States. Their decisions greatly affects the communication companies (such as Verizon, Qualcomm, even Huawei), because the repeal of Net Neutrality allows some of these companies (Verizon mainly out of the above list) to throttle (slow down) internet speeds for certain websites and the ability to block content, for example a competitor's website (or just any popular website like Facebook). People will have no option then to deal with this problem or pay more money for accessing more websites or not having a webpage throttle intentionally (the restriction to webpages and throttling were some of the things that Net Neutrality protected against and people speculate that internet service providers (ISPs) can start to make plans like cable companies). With the option to either pay more for internet (compared to before) or deal with slow internet some people might just not buy any internet service which is a very big deal for small businesses as they will have to pay more for good internet speed and in turn might make prices higher for that business or might bring the business down. The decrease of businesses and people willing to pay more money will decrease jobs (from the small businesses) and spending will be less (as less orders online will be made and no more money for the ISPs) this could start to bring the economy down. Even though the result is that Net Neutrality is repealed, nothing of this has happened yet, as no ISP currently has made any internet plans. But now without that it is a possibility. My opinions on this issue were mainly all said in the reflection. I only hope we don't live on a restricted internet as this is now one of the places were one can be the most free.

AP Gov Summer Assignment