- Understand the background to the colonists’ declaration of independence from their mother country, the colonial power of Great Britain
- Understand the new view of the origin and legitimacy of political power the American founders developed to justify the separation
- Understand the Declaration of Independence itself
- Understand the first constitution that followed independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the reasons it failed
- Understand the arguments, debates, and compromises at the Constitutional Convention that led to the new U.S. Constitution
- Understand the process of ratifying, or adopting, the new constitution
- Understand the basic constitutional principles: separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism
- Understand the evolution of federalism from the founding to today
- Understand the process of amending the Constitution
