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Grade 11 – Junior Year

Government and Civics

How American government is structured, how it actually operates, and how to participate in it intelligently. Half credit.
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About Course

Government and Civics covers how the American system is structured, how it
actually operates, and how citizens participate in it. This is a half-credit course of four units.

The course is built around a specific commitment: where reasonable people genuinely disagree,
it sets out the strongest case on each side rather than choosing between them. That applies to
the Electoral College, the filibuster, executive power, campaign finance, judicial interpretation and
contested civil rights questions.

The aim is not neutrality for its own sake. It is that students who can state an opposing position at
its strongest are better at evaluating their own, harder to manipulate, and more effective when they do
argue.

What you will study

  • Unit 1 — Foundations: what governments are for, Enlightenment political theory, the
    Constitution and its principles, and federalism.
  • Unit 2 — The Three Branches: Congress and how law is made, the presidency and the
    expansion of executive power, the courts and judicial review, and the federal bureaucracy.
  • Unit 3 — Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: the Bill of Rights, incorporation, First
    Amendment protections and their limits, due process, and the development of civil rights.
  • Unit 4 — Participation and Civic Life: elections and the Electoral College, parties
    and interest groups, the media environment, and participating effectively.

How the course works

Each unit includes teaching lessons, two interactive activities you complete on screen, and one unit
quiz marked automatically. A mid-course assessment follows Unit 2 and a final assessment closes the
course.

A note on contested topics

This course describes current political disputes and does not take positions on them. Where a
question is genuinely open — constitutionally, empirically or as a matter of values — it says so and
presents the competing arguments. Where something is settled law or established fact, it says that
instead.

Show More

What Will You Learn?

  • Explain the constitutional structure and the principles behind it
  • Describe what each branch does and how power has shifted between them
  • Distinguish civil liberties from civil rights and apply the standards courts use
  • Describe elections, parties, interest groups and the media environment
  • Evaluate political claims and state opposing positions at their strongest

Requirements

  • None. United States History is helpful but not required.

Audience

  • Students completing a government or civics requirement, and anyone who wants to follow American politics with more than a partisan map.

Course Content

Getting Started
<p>How this course works, what you will learn, and how you are assessed.</p>

  • Course Overview and Learning Objectives

Unit 1: Foundations of American Government
<h2>Unit Introduction</h2> <p>Before examining how American government works, it is worth asking what governments are for — and noticing that the answer is contested.</p> <p><strong>The American system was designed around a specific answer</strong>, drawn from Enlightenment political theory: that government exists to protect rights, derives its authority from the consent of the governed, and must be structured so that its own power can be limited.</p> <p><strong>Whether it succeeds at that is a live argument</strong>, and this unit establishes the framework needed to have it intelligently.</p> <h2>Unit Learning Objectives</h2> <p>By the end of Unit 1 you will be able to: - Describe the purposes of government and major forms it takes - Explain the Enlightenment ideas underlying American founding documents - Describe the Constitution's structure and the principles it embodies - Explain federalism and why its boundaries remain contested</p>

Unit 2: The Three Branches
<h2>Unit Introduction</h2> <p>The Constitution describes three branches in a few thousand words. <strong>What those branches actually do today is considerably more complicated</strong>, and in several respects different from what the text alone would suggest.</p> <p><strong>Congress was expected to dominate. The presidency has grown instead.</strong> The courts exercise a power not mentioned in the Constitution. And a federal bureaucracy that the framers did not anticipate now makes a substantial proportion of the rules citizens live under.</p> <p><strong>This unit covers both the design and how it actually operates</strong>, because the gap between them is where most contemporary argument about American government occurs.</p> <h2>Unit Learning Objectives</h2> <p>By the end of Unit 2 you will be able to: - Describe the structure and powers of Congress and how a bill becomes law - Describe presidential powers and explain how they have expanded - Explain the federal court system and judicial review - Describe the federal bureaucracy and the accountability questions it raises</p>

Unit 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
<h2>Unit Introduction</h2> <p><strong>Civil liberties</strong> are protections from government action. <strong>Civil rights</strong> are protections against discrimination and guarantees of equal treatment.</p> <p>The distinction matters because the two developed differently: <strong>liberties were written into the Constitution at the outset; rights were substantially added afterwards, and their enforcement took another century.</strong></p> <p><strong>This unit covers both what the protections say and how they have been applied</strong>, including cases where application is genuinely contested. <strong>Where reasonable people disagree, this course sets out the competing arguments rather than choosing between them.</strong></p> <h2>Unit Learning Objectives</h2> <p>By the end of Unit 3 you will be able to: - Distinguish civil liberties from civil rights - Describe the Bill of Rights and how it applies to the states - Explain key First Amendment and due process protections - Describe the development of civil rights and analyse contested applications</p>

Unit 4: Participation and Civic Life
<h2>Unit Introduction</h2> <p>A system designed around consent of the governed depends on the governed participating.</p> <p><strong>This unit covers how that participation works</strong>: elections and their mechanics, the party system, interest groups, the media environment, and the practical question of how to engage effectively.</p> <p><strong>It closes with the skills the course exists to build</strong> — evaluating political claims, distinguishing empirical from normative questions, and participating in argument without relying on the weakest version of the other side.</p> <h2>Unit Learning Objectives</h2> <p>By the end of Unit 4 you will be able to: - Describe how elections work, including the Electoral College - Explain the two-party system and why it persists - Describe interest groups, media and their effects on politics - Participate effectively and evaluate political information critically</p>

Course Completion
<p>Final assessment and full-course review.</p>

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Instructors

Rapid Grad Academy

Rapid Grad Academy

4.3
90 Students
35 Courses
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$25.00
  • Grade 11 – Junior Year
  • 1
  • September 26, 2026
  • Certificate of completion

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