This course will provide students with a solid grounding in the
fundamentals of U.S. government and politics at the national level.
By the end of the course students will have a basic understanding of
the United States Constitution, and of the functioning of the
national institutions it created (e.g., Congress, the federal courts,
the presidency).  We will see how Americans commonly behave within
the institutional framework of the national political system, and
will explore some key concepts used to assess the legitimacy, quality
or health of American politics (among them, the principles of
federalism, democracy, representation, and civil liberties).  With a
knowledge of these things students will be in a much better position
to understand political events as they happen and to debate or
discuss political issues of importance to them in their lives outside
of the classroom.