American Government Textbook

American Government book by OpenStax

American Government textbook is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American government course.

This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including Insider Perspective features and a Get Connected Module that shows students how they can get engaged in the political process.

The book provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of American government and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them.

American Government includes updated information on the 2016 presidential election.

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Students and the System

1. American Government and Civic Engagement

1.1. What is Government?

1.2. Who Governs? Elitism, Pluralism, and Tradeoffs

1.3. Engagement in a Democracy

2. The Constitution and Its Origins

2.1. The Pre-Revolutionary Period and the Roots of the American Political Tradition

2.2. The Articles of Confederation

2.3. The Development of the Constitution

2.4. The Ratification of the Constitution

2.5. Constitutional Change

3. American Federalism

3.1. The Division of Powers

3.2. The Evolution of American Federalism

3.3. Intergovernmental Relationships

3.4. Competitive Federalism Today

3.5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Federalism Individual Agency and Action

4. Civil Liberties

4.1. What Are Civil Liberties?

4.2. Securing Basic Freedoms

4.3. The Rights of Suspects

4.4. Interpreting the Bill of Rights

5. Civil Rights

5.1. What Are Civil Rights and How Do We Identify Them?

5.2. The African American Struggle for Equality

5.3. The Fight for Women’s Rights

5.4. Civil Rights for Indigenous Groups: Native Americans, Alaskans, and Hawaiians

5.5. Equal Protection for Other Groups

6. The Politics of Public Opinion

6.1. The Nature of Public Opinion

6.2. How Is Public Opinion Measured?

6.3. What Does the Public Think?

6.4. The Effects of Public Opinion

7. Voting and Elections

7.1. Voter Registration

7.2. Voter Turnout

7.3. Elections

7.4. Campaigns and Voting

7.5. Direct Democracy

8. The Media

8.1. What Is the Media?

8.2. The Evolution of the Media

8.3. Regulating the Media

8.4. The Impact of the Media

9. Political Parties

9.1. What Are Parties and How Did They Form?

9.2. The Two-Party System

9.3. The Shape of Modern Political Parties

9.4. Divided Government and Partisan Polarization

10. Interest Groups and Lobbying

10.1. Interest Groups Defined

10.2. Collective Action and Interest Group Formation

10.3. Interest Groups as Political Participation

10.4. Pathways of Interest Group Influence

10.5. Free Speech and the Regulation of Interest Groups

11. Congress

11.1. The Institutional Design of Congress

11.2. Congressional Elections

11.3. Congressional Representation

11.4. House and Senate Organizations

11.5. The Legislative Process

12. The Presidency

12.1. The Design and Evolution of the Presidency

12.2. The Presidential Election Process

12.3. Organizing to Govern

12.4. The Public Presidency

12.5. Presidential Governance: Direct Presidential Action

13. The Courts

13.1. Guardians of the Constitution and Individual Rights

13.2. The Dual Court System

13.3. The Federal Court System

13.4. The Supreme Court

13.5. Judicial Decision-Making and Implementation by the Supreme Court

14. State and Local Government

14.1. State Power and Delegation

14.2. State Political Culture

14.3. Governors and State Legislatures

14.4. State Legislative Term Limits

14.5. County and City Government

15. The Bureaucracy

16. Domestic Policy

17. Foreign Policy