Background
A unit on the origins and basic foundation of the United States government will precede The Road to the White House unit. With this rough outline of the structure of our government, students will then turn their focus to the 2008 presidential election as a means to understand the major concepts of government structure, operation, and behavior.
The first unit, The Presidency, will concentrate on the history and role of the President of the United States after taking the oath of office. When complete, students will understand these concepts:
- The (historical) role and responsibilities of the President, as dictated by the founding fathers and the U.S. Constitution (as well as other historical documents)
- The evolution of the office of the President from the ideal set forth by the founding fathers to modern day presidents
- The power of the President, both foreign and domestic
- The structure, organization, and philosophy of the office of the President
- The characteristics of the president, including the leadership role, as viewed through the eyes of external sources (the American public, competing political parties, the world, allies, enemies, etc)
To transition from The Presidency to the next five week unit, Campaign for the Presidency, students will learn how campaign strategists often use the "power of persuasion" to sway the American populace towards or against a candidate. Students will learn that political rhetoric is often designed for a specific outcome, and it does not always include the whole truth. The culminating project of the first unit will be to map out each states historical presidential voting history. This includes, and is not limited to demographics, non-presidential voting, and local and state issues. This first project will be continued into the Campaign for the Presidency unit, through campaign and election themes, but also in the culminating project which links directly with the overlying objective of both units, the presidency.
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