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- Course name
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U.S. Citizenship and Civics with Jason Negri
- Summary
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Join this timely and dynamic upper-level civics course covering history, government, politics, law, economics, and more -- for a broad yet compelling overview helping your student fully understand the US government and elections this year. This course meets many American Government course requirements.
Instructor: Jason Negri, MS/JD
Course Description: This upper-level high school course is an introduction to all things “civics.” Immigrants to the United States need to pass a test to become citizens -- and we tend to take our American civic knowledge for granted. Through this course, help your student “cover a little bit of everything” in what is needed for civics intelligence -- including history, government, politics, law, and economics. (Check out the course outline below for detailed course topics covered!) Together, these topics give a frame of reference to understand this “experiment in ordered liberty” that we call America.
Class 1 – Introduction
Class 2 – Political theory/history
Class 3 – History
Class 4 – History
Class 5 – History / Government
Separation of powers; checks & balances. How practically does it work?
Federal vs. States’ rights
Class 6 – History/Government
Class 7 – America Grows / Modern political scene
Class 8 – America Grows (cont.)
Class 9 – Election Post-mortem
Class 10 - Economics
Class 11 – Economics
- Course name
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U.S. Citizenship and Civics with Jason Negri
- Instructor
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Jason Negri
- Semester
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Recorded
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Government/Law ➤ Civic
- Grade levels
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High School
- Start time
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September 10th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ET
- Course type
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Recorded, free with subscription
- Relative due dates
- Enhanced quiz security
- Enhanced assignment security
- This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections or purchasers of the course. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment, and in violation of US and International copyright laws.
- You may print or download to your own storage extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. Use for homeschool co-ops is permitted after contacting customer support and receiving written permission from Homeschool Connections.
- Upon completion of the course, you must delete all copies of course materials from any storage on which you saved permissible extracts.
Total classes
Duration
Prerequisites
None
Suggested grade level
Suggested credit
Outline
Course Outline:
Introduction to class and overview
INS Civics exam
INS exams
Define “law” – ask for their definitions, parse Aquinas’ definition
Review Aquinas’ 6 forms of government.
English Common Law
The concept of “rights” in society – the Western tradition vs. non-Western traditions
Magna Carta - http://www.constitution.org/eng/magnacar.htm
The Rule of Law
Declaration of Independence
The cost; What happened to the Signers? Sacrifice
Why write a declaration at all? Why not just revolt? Answer: Justification
Characteristics of the various state governments:
Popular sovereignty – the final political authority rests with the people/voters
Limited government – the Federal govt only had the power granted to it by the Constitution & the people
Separation of Power/checks and balances – 3 branches with different roles
Franchisement – broader than in any other country in the world at that time
The Articles of Confederation
In-class discussion/debate on Bill of Rights (Alien exercise)
Federalist 1 and 51
Diffusion of Power:
The US Constitution:
Who refused to sign the final form of the Constitution and why?
Powers of Congress – express power & implied powers (Necessary & proper clause)
Major historical events in America’s development
Election – what is the electoral map looking like?
What are the projected battleground/swing states?
The 2-party system – good or bad?
Discuss: Federal Reserve; Electoral College; Confirmation Bias; Democratic Socialism
Discuss the results of Tuesday’s Elections: national, state and local. What happened in your district? What are the likely implications?
Discuss “I, Pencil”
Free market capitalism
Discuss “The Unfreedom of the Free Market”
Does the State have a role to play in the economic welfare of its citizens? Is free-market capitalism really the moral thing to do?
Materials
All course materials are provided free by the instructor: “I Pencil” essay; INS exam; Federalist 1 and 52; Magna Carta: Declaration of Independence; U.S. Constitution, including the amendments; and other readings.
Homework
Expect to spend approximately one to two hours weekly current-events reports (most weeks) plus a five to six-page paper at the end of the course. Graded by the instructor.
Jason Negri
jasonnegri@gmail.com
About Jason Negri, MS, JD
ATTORNEY
A member of the State Bar of Michigan since 2003, Negri’s solo practice specializes in transactional law, wills & trusts and probate. He is a member of the Estate Planning & Probate section, and is a co-founder of the Religious Liberty Law section of the Bar.
AUTHOR
Negri has written articles which have appeared in Faith magazine, Crisis Magazine Online, and Columbia, the monthly magazine of the Knights of Columbus. He co-authored the booklet Freedom to Flourish: A Catholic Analysis of Doctor-Prescribed Suicide and Euthanasia, published in 2011 by the Knights of Columbus as part of their Veritas series. He also authored the booklet Twenty Answers on End-of-Life Issues, published in 2014 by Catholic Answers, Inc.
EDUCATOR AND SPEAKER
Negri has taught courses in Business Law and Education Law as an adjunct professor at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, MI, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has also taught both Civics and Intro to Law on the high school level. He speaks nationally on the practical and ethical aspects of end-of-life issues, and has provided workshops and training to those seeking to improve their ability to effectively communicate these issues.
MEMBERSHIPS
Negri is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has served on the boards of two different charter public schools in Southeast Michigan, and is the Supervisor of Hamburg Township in Michigan while maintaining a law practice. An active member of Holy Spirit parish in Brighton, he completed 6 years on his parish council and now cantors, sings in the choir, and runs the parish marriage ministry with his wife Samantha.
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