(Spring 2024) American Government with Paul Hyatt

This course is designed to give a high school student everything they need to know about being an American citizen. This is accomplished by presenting America’s philosophical roots, historical background, and political structure. By the end of this course, students will understand what it means to be an American.

How to get the most out of American Government with Paul Hyatt:

  • First, read the course materials for each week. Reading is not punishment. It is probably the most important way that we grow in knowledge. Set aside about a half an hour to one hour each day to read your Bible, the books for your courses, and perhaps even something for the pure enjoyment of reading (in my case, anything by Tolkien). You will benefit, greatly, from this in life. 

  • Then, have a notebook ready and available for class notes each live session. This is very important as people generally retain knowledge better by writing it down, by hand. 

  • Watch all pre-recorded videos for each week. In these videos, I will guide you through the key concepts that you need to have a firm grasp of in order to attain mastery of the material covered in this course. These videos are to be a tool for you to use in order to be successful. I have spent several hours making these as interesting and compelling as possible. I hope you enjoy them and come each week ready to discuss what you have learned from them. 

  • Watch that week’s recording if you need to revisit information from our live session.

  • Do the assignments and any extra work assigned for that week.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Special Notes: Course materials provided free. This course includes a writing component.

Total classes: 12

Duration: 55 minutes per class

Prerequisite: None. However, an interest in politics and the social sciences will be helpful.

Suggested grade level: 10th to 12th grade. An advanced, enthusiastic 9th-grade student could do well in this course.

Suggested credit: One full semester Government

Instructors: Paul Hyatt

Instructor email:  phyatt.hsc@gmail.com

Course description: This course seeks to get students ready to act in the world by introducing them to the political makeup of the country they live in. This will be accomplished by discovering America’s philosophical and political roots, America’s political structure, and how America’s political structure and philosophical roots have been expressed throughout American history. This is all done to get students to see how the very foundations of American government impact their everyday lives.

Course outline:

Weeks 1 & 2: Foundations of the United States Constitution – Topics discussed: American Philosophical roots, Principles of Government, The United States Constitution

Week 3: Federalism – Topics discussed: The Constitutional Basis of Federalism, How Federalism works, National Supremacy, What Federalism looks like today

Weeks 4, 5, & 6: The Legislative Branch – Topics discussed: Structure and organization of Congress, Elections, Leadership, Committees, Staff, Roles, Privileges, Powers, Lawmaking process, Tactics, and interest groups

Weeks 7, 8, & 9: The Executive Branch – Topics discussed: Origins of the Presidency, Becoming the President, Vice President, Presidential Powers, Limits on Power, Presidential character, Bureaucracy

Week 10: The Judicial Branch – Topics discussed: Federal Court System, Structure of the American Judicial System, Judicial Selection, How the Court works, Judicial Philosophy

Weeks 11 & 12: Rights and Duties – Topics discussed: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Duties as an American citizen

Course materials:
This course will not utilize a textbook. We will instead utilize a series of primary sources that will all be accessible through sites like https://www.archives.gov/. We will also, from time to time, utilize news articles from events that are going on currently, in order to discuss how our government works in real-time.

Homework: Homework will consist of 6 discussion forum assignments, a midterm, and a final. The discussion forums are meant to get students to engage with their classmates in responsible discussion and debate. The assignments call for students to restate, in their own words, what our founding documents and other sources are saying. Then, they will look for examples of how this structural aspect works throughout history and in our lives today. After they have done this, they will be able to interact with their classmates in responsible discussion and debate on each issue. Each assignment should take about an hour to complete. The midterm and final exams will be multiple choice exams that are meant to be a review of the material covered in the course.