McNulty – AP Government and Politics
2017 Summer Assignment
Welcome to AP Gov. There will be TONS to examine over the course of the year. There are a number of
goals for this summer assignment. First and foremost it is to “make time” for the amount of information to
be covered in this class – there is little time to cover everything in a semester. Secondly, it will allow you
to become politically aware and media savvy when you return.
I will be available on Twitter (@mcnulty_gphs) and email ([email protected]). I’ll do my
best to get back to you ASAP.
All resources are available via my Google Classroom | AP Government – 2017 Summer Assignment
(code: je48u4 – go to classroom.google.com and enter the code). Or you can use the district webpage at
http://www.grantspass.k12.or.us/Page/3389 (select the Summer Assignment tab).
There are three pieces to this summer assignment: News Journal, Bill of Rights Analysis, and Major
Supreme Court Cases (more details on each piece are included on the following pages).
SR1 | News Journal
Follow the news. Use Google Docs (https://goo.gl/bPGhGF) to outline six news stories: two stories
regarding politics, two stories regarding social events, one story about foreign policy, and one story about
economics.
This should be submitted to McNulty via Google Classroom by Wednesday of the first week of school.
SR2 | US Constitution
You will create review cards in Quizlet (www.quizlet.com). You will create 34 cards: 7 for each article
of the Constitution and 27 for each Amendment.
The link to this should be submitted to McNulty via Google Classroom by the end of the first week of
class.
SR3 | Important Supreme Court Cases
You will create review cards in Quizlet (www.quizlet.com). You will create 25 cards: one for each case
listed on the final page of this document
The link to this should be submitted to McNulty via Google Classroom by the end of the second week of
class.
News Journal
A large portion of class discussion will stem from what you understand about politics, as well as how you
perceive the media. Completing this news journal will allow you to walk into the room in September
more aware of your “political self” and political coverage in the media. These are the two filters through
which we see politics. The quality of class discussions and how you begin to incorporate and synthesize
new information and knowledge benefits from being aware of current events. Hopefully this will also help
you to get in the habit of following the news, if you don’t do so already, which will be an absolute
requirement for the course. If you follow me on Twitter I will post various stories that you might find
interesting or useful for this assignment.
For this assignment, you will need to create a table in Google Docs in the format below (or make a copy
of this Google Doc: https://goo.gl/bPGhGF).
News Story Title:
News Source:
News Story Summary:
Date of News Item:
Your Opinion:
Link to News Item:
You will need to complete this table for:
Theme
Political
Economic
# of stories
to cover
Description of theme
2
Everything is political- in this instance “political” means stories having to do
particularly with elections, parties, laws, leaders, etc. Think Democrats v.
Republicans
1
Stories which have to do with the economy directly, such as Wall Street,
jobs, business and the state of the economy, recession/recovery, oil prices,
taxes, or with social class issues (middle v. upper class).
Social
2
Stories which have to do with civil rights issues (race, gender, immigration,
etc), ‘cultural’ and ‘moral’ issues such as abortion, religion, and civil liberties
issues (freedom), such as free speech issues, guns, crime, states’ rights, etc.
Foreign
Policy
1
Stories having to do with the War on Terror or issues with Iran, Cuba, Israel,
Venezuela, England, EU, North Korea.
This should be submitted to McNulty via Google Classroom by Wednesday of the first week of school.
US Constitution – Articles and Amendments
Understanding the Constitution is essential for this course. We will spend a full unit of study covering
principles and diving in further, but this assignment will set the foundation and framework for those
lessons.
You will create review cards in Quizlet (www.quizlet.com). You will create 34 cards: 7 for each article
of the Constitution and 27 for each Amendment.
In Quizlet:
 for each term: enter the article number or amendment number
 for each definition: include a description in your own words of what the article or amendment does
and include the date of ratification for the amendments
Example:
The link to this should be submitted to McNulty via Google Classroom by the end of the first week of
class.
Important Supreme Court Cases
You will create review cards in Quizlet (www.quizlet.com). You will create 25 cards: one for each case
listed.
In Quizlet:
 for each term: enter the case name
 for each definition: include date, the issue, what the court decided, and what the vote was
You need to include the following cases:
1. McCulloch v. Maryland
2. Marbury v. Madison
3. Plessy v. Ferguson
4. Brown v. Board of Education
5. Korematsu v. United States
6. Mapp v. Ohio
7. Engel v. Vitale
8. Lemon v. Kurtzman
9. Gideon v. Wainwright
10. Miranda v. Wainwright
11. Tinker v. Des Moines
12. Lemon v. Kurtzman
13. Roe v. Wade
14. US v. Nixon
15. Buckley v. Valeo
16. Regents of California v. Bakke
17. Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
18. Texas v. Johnson
19. Gibbons v. Ogden
20. Reynolds v. United States
21. Oregon v. Smith
22. Schenck v. United States
23. NY Times v. Sullivan
24. Barron v. Baltimore
25. Gitlow v. New York
The link to this should be submitted to McNulty via Google Classroom by the end of the second week of
class.