What's in American Government: All 17 Units, in Order

American Government, sometimes called American National Government, is a standard first course in political science and a common general-education requirement. It is a course about how the federal system is built and how it actually runs: where the rules came from, who holds which power, how citizens take part, and how the three branches check each other.

Encodr's free American Government course follows the 17 chapters of OpenStax American Government 4e, plus the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Federalist 10 and 51. It has 17 units, 90 chapters and 1,224 study cards from 23 sources. One limit up front: this is the federal course. Unit 16 surveys how state and local governments work in general, but it is not a substitute for a course on your own state's constitution and government.

Here is every unit, in teaching order.

Foundations (units 1-3)

Unit 1, American Government and Civic Engagement (3 chapters, 47 cards). What government and politics are, forms of government from monarchy to representative democracy, the four kinds of goods (private, public, toll and common), and the debate over who really governs: elite theory (C. Wright Mills) versus pluralism (Robert Dahl). It ends with civic engagement, social capital and the ways people take part.

Unit 2, The Constitution and Its Origins (6 chapters, 103 cards). Locke's natural rights and the social contract, the road to independence, the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 and its compromises (the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise), separation of powers and checks and balances, ratification and the Federalist Papers, Madison's arguments in Federalist 10 and 51, and the Article V amendment process.

Unit 3, American Federalism (5 chapters, 72 cards). Enumerated, reserved and concurrent powers, the supremacy clause, dual versus cooperative federalism (layer cake versus marble cake), the early federalism cases, categorical and block grants, unfunded mandates, and competitive federalism today.

Rights and the Constitution (units 4-7)

Unit 4, Civil Liberties (7 chapters, 98 cards). The Bill of Rights and its incorporation against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, the two religion clauses, freedom of expression, the Second, Third and Fourth Amendments, the rights of the accused, and the right to privacy.

Unit 5, Civil Rights (7 chapters, 86 cards). Civil rights as guarantees of equal treatment, the three levels of judicial scrutiny, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and its landmark laws, women's rights, and the rights of Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, Hispanic and Asian Americans, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities and religious minorities.

Unit 6, Landmark Supreme Court Cases (8 chapters, 69 cards). A recall unit that gathers the cases the book names into eight groups: federal power and judicial review, religion, speech and press, the rights of the accused, privacy and incorporation, race and equal protection, gender and other groups, and elections and campaign finance. Cards run both directions, case to holding and holding to case, and say when a later ruling overturned an earlier one. The full list is in landmark Supreme Court cases to know.

Unit 7, The Constitution and Its Amendments (5 chapters, 51 cards). Another recall unit: what each of the seven articles does, the Bill of Rights by number, the Reconstruction Amendments, amendments 16 through 27, and key clauses by name (supremacy, necessary and proper, commerce, full faith and credit, due process, equal protection, takings).

Units 6 and 7 are the most memorization-heavy part of the course, and they are placed together so you can drill them as a block.

The public and elections (units 8-12)

Unit 8, The Politics of Public Opinion (4 chapters, 55 cards). Political socialization and ideology, how polls work (random and representative samples, margin of error, push polls), what the public thinks and how opinion shapes officials.

Unit 9, Voting and Elections (6 chapters, 70 cards). Voter registration and the history of barriers to voting, turnout and why the denominator matters, campaign finance and primaries, the general election and the Electoral College (538 electors, 270 to win), how voters decide, and direct democracy: initiatives, referendums and recalls, which exist in many states but not at the national level.

Unit 10, The Media (4 chapters, 32 cards). Types and functions of the media, from the party press to social media, media regulation and the FCC, and media effects: agenda setting, framing and priming.

Unit 11, Political Parties (4 chapters, 52 cards). How parties formed, why plurality voting favors two parties (Duverger's law), realignment and critical elections, party organization from precinct to national committee, divided government and polarization.

Unit 12, Interest Groups and Lobbying (4 chapters, 52 cards). The collective action problem and free riders, incentives to join, iron triangles and issue networks, inside and outside lobbying, PACs and super PACs, and the laws that regulate money and lobbying.

The three branches (units 13-15)

Unit 13, Congress (5 chapters, 101 cards). Bicameralism, the House and Senate compared, enumerated, implied and inherent powers, incumbency advantage, models of representation (delegate, trustee, politico), leadership and committees, and how a bill becomes law, including the filibuster, cloture and the veto.

Unit 14, The Presidency (5 chapters, 83 cards). How the framers designed the office, qualifications and impeachment, how a president is chosen, the cabinet and the Executive Office of the President, the public presidency and the bully pulpit, and direct presidential action through executive orders, pardons and executive agreements.

Unit 15, The Courts (5 chapters, 78 cards). Judicial review, original and appellate jurisdiction, the dual court system, the three tiers of federal courts and how judges are selected, how the Supreme Court takes cases (certiorari and the Rule of Four), and how justices decide.

State government, bureaucracy and policy (units 16-17)

Unit 16, State and Local Government (4 chapters, 53 cards). A general survey: reserved powers, Dillon's Rule versus home rule, Elazar's three political cultures, governors and state legislatures, term limits, and county and city government. It describes how states work in general, not any one state.

Unit 17, The Bureaucracy and Public Policy (8 chapters, 122 cards, the largest unit). The civil service and its reforms, models and types of federal agencies, how Congress and the president control the bureaucracy, types of public policy, the policy process, budgeting, fiscal and monetary policy, and foreign policy. The budgeting chapter is where government meets economics; what's in Principles of Macroeconomics covers fiscal and monetary policy in full, and the public, private, toll and common goods from unit 1 come from the same framework taught in what's in Principles of Microeconomics.

Where the weight is

There is no math in American Government, but there are a lot of numbers: ages and terms of office, two-thirds and three-fourths thresholds, 538 and 270. The main kinds of material are:

• Structure and numbers: which article does what, which amendment says what, who confirms, who ratifies. Units 2, 7, 13 and 14 carry most of it.
• Cases: name, year and holding, in both directions. Unit 6, with more cases scattered through units 3, 4 and 5.
• Processes: how a bill becomes law, how the Constitution is amended, impeachment, the Electoral College. These are tested as sequences.
• Concepts and theories: elite versus pluralist theory, models of representation, types of federalism. Units 1, 3, 11 and 12.

How to study for American Government has a method for each. Because so much of the course is exact recall, it rewards short daily quizzing over long rereading sessions; see the testing effect and what spaced repetition actually does. If you are taking Intro Sociology at the same time, its government unit covers Weber's types of authority and Mills's power elite; what's in Intro Sociology shows where they fit.

The cards state rules and holdings rather than who currently holds an office, so they do not go stale, and they are text only. To plan your pace through 1,224 cards, try the flashcard deck time estimator. The free college gen-ed course flashcards post lists the rest of the series, and you can start the American Government flashcards free.