Intro to American Politics 

Note: No corrections allowed.

Links to readings for final exam:

• Summarize the leading features of the Innocence Project.  Provide statistics and describe a few representative cases.

• Summarize the history of the death penalty in Massachusetts. (Find more information on this topic by clicking here.)

• Highlight a few major developments in the history of the death penalty in the United States.

• Describe ways in which DNA testing is affecting capital punishment policies in the U.S.

• Summarize the Catholic Church's current teachings on the death penalty.

• Summarize some of the arguments used to oppose capital punishment.

• Summarize some of the arguments used to justify capital punishment.

• Summarize a few major aspects of Jewish-Black relations in American political history.

• Outline some of the defining characteristics of the sexual abuse scandal that is roiling the Catholic Church.  Focus on a few major features of the current crisis.

• Summarize a few major aspects of the history of lynching in the United States.

• Summarize the history of the collapse of Enron Corporation. Browse through the links on this page to find the most important details.

• Summarize some of the leading features of the Homeland Security Act.

• Summarize the history of the death penalty in Massachusetts. (Find more information on this topic by clicking here.)

• Highlight a few major developments in the history of the death penalty in the United States.

• Summarize the Catholic Church's current teachings on the death penalty.

• Describe some of the measures adopted and proposed to protect the safety of children who use the Internet.

• Describe Jimmy Hoffa's role in the rise of organized crime in the United States.

• Summarize some of the leading features of the relationship between organized crime and labor unions in the U.S.

• Describe some of the ethical issues raised by stem cell research.

• Describe some of the pros and cons of gun control legislation in the U.S.

• Describe some of the loopholes in current gun control laws.

• Explain why some people view gun control legislation as a threat to civil liberties in the U.S.

• Describe some of the controversies surrounding the movement to legalize marijuana in the U.S.  Find out more about this issue by clicking here and here.

• Highlight some major aspects of the recent history of street gangs in the U.S.

• Describe some of the ways in which the war on terrorism is affecting rights to privacy in the United States.

• Describe some of the ways in which the war on terrorism is affecting civil liberties in the United States. (Browse through links and focus on one or two aspects)

• Describe some of the controversies surrounding racial profiling in the U.S.

• Describe some of the issues raised by racial profiling policies in various American cities.