By connecting to those stories about the foundations of American government, you will be able to:

1.1 Explain how diverse Americans have been able to use the same political tools to achieve their own distinct visions of good government

1.2 Define the key elements of American political culture

1.3 Examine the ways in which natural rights and the theory of the social contract helped to shape the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence

1.4 Identify the factors that gave rise to the American Revolution and discuss the war’s legacy, both in what was and what was not achieved

1.5 Describe the core features of American political institutions

1.6 Compare Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence in terms of their ideas and the political strategies of their authors