Government Standards



California State Standards

Social Studies - Grade 12

Assessment Exam - CA Social Studies - Grade 12
Principles of American Democracy and Economics eTAP Lesson
Principles of American Democracy
Analyze the influence of ancient Greek, Roman, English, and leading European political thinkers such as John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Niccolò Machiavelli, and William Blackstone on the development of American government.
CA.SS.12.1.1
A New Kind of Government

Scarcity and Choice
Discuss the character of American democracy and its promise and perils as articu­lated by Alexis de Tocqueville.
CA.SS.12.1.2
A New Kind of Government
Explain how the U.S. Constitution reflects a balance between the classical republican concern with promotion of the public good and the classical liberal concern with protecting individual rights; and discuss how the basic premises of liberal constitu­tionalism and democracy are joined in the Declaration of Independence as “self­ evident truths.”
CA.SS.12.1.3
The Balance of Power
Explain how the Founding Fathers’ realistic view of human nature led directly to the establishment of a constitutional system that limited the power of the governors andthe governed as articulated in the Federalist Papers.
CA.SS.12.1.4
 
Describe the systems of separated and shared powers, the role of organized interests (Federalist Paper Number 10), checks and balances (Federalist Paper Number 51), the importance of an independent judiciary (Federalist Paper Number 78), enumerated powers, rule of law, federalism, and civilian control of the military.
CA.SS.12.1.5
Balance of Power
Understand that the Bill of Rights limits the powers of the federal government and state governments.
CA.SS.12.1.6
The Bill of Rights
Discuss the meaning and importance of each of the rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and how each is secured (e.g., freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition, privacy).
CA.SS.12.2.1
The Bill of Rights
Explain how economic rights are secured and their importance to the individual andto society (e.g., the right to acquire, use, transfer, and dispose of property; right to choose one’s work; right to join or not join labor unions; copyright and patent).
CA.SS.12.2.2
 
Discuss the individual’s legal obligations to obey the law, serve as a juror, and pay taxes.
CA.SS.12.2.3
Being an American
Understand the obligations of civic-mindedness, including voting, being informed on civic issues, volunteering and performing public service, and serving in the military or alternative service.
CA.SS.12.2.4
Being an American
Describe the reciprocity between rights and obligations; that is, why enjoyment ofone’s rights entails respect for the rights of others.
CA.SS.12.2.5
Being an American
Explain how one becomes a citizen of the United States, including the process of naturalization (e.g., literacy, language, and other requirements).
CA.SS.12.2.6
Being an American
Explain how civil society provides opportunities for individuals to associate for social, cultural, religious, economic, and political purposes.
CA.SS.12.3.1
 
Explain how civil society makes it possible for people, individually or in association with others, to bring their influence to bear on government in ways other than voting and elections.
CA.SS.12.3.2
 
Discuss the historical role of religion and religious diversity.
CA.SS.12.3.3
A Foundation of Religion
Compare the relationship of government and civil society in constitutional democra­cies to the relationship of government and civil society in authoritarian and totalitar­ian regimes.
CA.SS.12.3.4
 
Discuss Article I of the Constitution as it relates to the legislative branch, including eligibility for office and lengths of terms of representatives and senators; election to office; the roles of the House and Senate in impeachment proceedings; the role of the vice president; the enumerated legislative powers; and the process by which a bill becomes a law.
CA.SS.12.4.1
The Federal System
Explain the process through which the Constitution can be amended.
CA.SS.12.4.2
Amending the Constitution
Identify their current representatives in the legislative branch of the national govern­ment.
CA.SS.12.4.2
Amending the Constitution
Discuss Article II of the Constitution as it relates to the executive branch, including eligibility for office and length of term, election to and removal from office, the oath of office, and the enumerated executive powers.
CA.SS.12.4.3
The Three Branches of Government
Discuss Article III of the Constitution as it relates to judicial power, including the length of terms of judges and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
CA.SS.12.4.4
The Three Branches of Government
Explain the processes of selection and confirmation of Supreme Court justices.
CA.SS.12.4.5
The Three Branches of Government

Balance of Power
Understand the changing interpretations of the Bill of Rights over time, including interpretations of the basic freedoms (religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly) articulated in the First Amendment and the due process and equal-protection-of-the-law clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
CA.SS.12.5.1
Interpreting the Law
Analyze judicial activism and judicial restraint and the effects of each policy over the decades (e.g., the Warren and Rehnquist courts).
CA.SS.12.5.2
A Case for Civil Rights

Modern Domestic Policy
Evaluate the effects of the Court’s interpretations of the Constitution in Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, and United States v. Nixon, with emphasis on the arguments espoused by each side in these cases.
CA.SS.12.5.3
Interest Rates
Explain the controversies that have resulted over changing interpretations of civil rights, including those in Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v.Arizona, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, and United States v. Virginia (VMI).
CA.SS.12.5.4
A Case for Civil Rights
Analyze the origin, development, and role of political parties, noting those occasional periods in which there was only one major party or were more than two major parties.
CA.SS.12.6.1
A Look Inside Macroeconomics
Discuss the history of the nomination process for presidential candidates and the increasing importance of primaries in general elections.
CA.SS.12.6.2
 
Evaluate the roles of polls, campaign advertising, and the controversies over cam­paign funding.
CA.SS.12.6.3
Issues in Today’s Global Market
Describe the means that citizens use to participate in the political process (e.g., vot­ing, campaigning, lobbying, filing a legal challenge, demonstrating, petitioning, picketing, running for political office).
CA.SS.12.6.4
 
Discuss the features of direct democracy in numerous states (e.g., the process of referendums, recall elections).
CA.SS.12.6.5
 
Analyze trends in voter turnout; the causes and effects of reapportionment and redistricting, with special attention to spatial districting and the rights of minorities; and the function of the Electoral College.
CA.SS.12.6.6
 
Explain how conflicts between levels of government and branches of government are resolved.
CA.SS.12.7.1
The Three Branches of Government
Identify the major responsibilities and sources of revenue for state and local govern­ments.
CA.SS.12.7.2
 
Discuss reserved powers and concurrent powers of state governments.
CA.SS.12.7.3
 
Discuss the Ninth and Tenth Amendments and interpretations of the extent of the federal government’s power.
CA.SS.12.7.4
Changing Levels of Power
Explain how public policy is formed, including the setting of the public agenda and implementation of it through regulations and executive orders.
CA.SS.12.7.5
 
Compare the processes of lawmaking at each of the three levels of government, including the role of lobbying and the media.
CA.SS.12.7.6
The Political Process
Identify the organization and jurisdiction of federal, state, and local (e.g., California) courts and the interrelationships among them.
CA.SS.12.7.7
States’ Rights
Understand the scope of presidential power and decision making through examina­tion of case studies such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, passage of Great Society legisla­tion, War Powers Act, Gulf War, and Bosnia.
CA.SS.12.7.8
Global Interdependence
Discuss the meaning and importance of a free and responsible press.
CA.SS.12.8.1
 
Describe the roles of broadcast, print, and electronic media, including the Internet, as means of communication in American politics.
CA.SS.12.8.2
 
Explain how public officials use the media to communicate with the citizenry and to shape public opinion.
CA.SS.12.8.3
Politics and the Media
Explain how the different philosophies and structures of feudalism, mercantilism, socialism, fascism, communism, monarchies, parliamentary systems, and constitu­tional liberal democracies influence economic policies, social welfare policies, and human rights practices.
CA.SS.12.9.1
Early European Political Systems
Compare the various ways in which power is distributed, shared, and limited in systems of shared powers and in parliamentary systems, including the influence and role of parliamentary leaders (e.g., William Gladstone, Margaret Thatcher).
CA.SS.12.9.2
Recent Political Systems
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of federal, confederal, and unitary sys­tems of government.
CA.SS.12.9.3
The Abuse of Power
Describe for at least two countries the consequences of conditions that gave rise to tyrannies during certain periods (e.g., Italy, Japan, Haiti, Nigeria, Cambodia).
CA.SS.12.9.4
 
Identify the forms of illegitimate power that twentieth-century African, Asian, and Latin American dictators used to gain and hold office and the conditions and inter­ests that supported them.
CA.SS.12.9.5
 
Identify the ideologies, causes, stages, and outcomes of major Mexican, Central American, and South American revolutions in the nineteenth and twentieth centu­ries.
CA.SS.12.9.6
 
Describe the ideologies that give rise to Communism, methods of maintaining con­trol, and the movements to overthrow such governments in Czechoslovakia, Hun­gary, and Poland, including the roles of individuals (e.g., Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel).
CA.SS.12.9.7
Rise of Fascism and Communism
Identify the successes of relatively new democracies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the ideas, leaders, and general societal conditions that have launched and sustained, or failed to sustain, them.
CA.SS.12.9.8
Africa

The Middle East
Students formulate questions about and defend their analyses of tensions within our constitutional democracy and the importance of maintaining a balance between the following concepts: majority rule and individual rights; liberty and equality; state and national authority in a federal system; civil disobedience and the rule of law; freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial; the relationship of religion and government.
CA.SS.12.10
 
Principles of Economics
Examine the causal relationship between scarcity and the need for choices.
CA.SS.12.1.1
Scarcity and Choice
Explain opportunity cost and marginal benefit and marginal cost.
CA.SS.12.1.2
 
Identify the difference between monetary and nonmonetary incentives and how changes in incentives cause changes in behavior.
CA.SS.12.1.3
Competition and Control
Evaluate the role of private property as an incentive in conserving and improving scarce resources, including renewable and nonrenewable natural resources.
CA.SS.12.1.4
Looking at the Resources
Analyze the role of a market economy in establishing and preserving political and personal liberty (e.g., through the works of Adam Smith).
CA.SS.12.1.5
Economic Systems
Understand the relationship of the concept of incentives to the law of supply and the relationship of the concept of incentives and substitutes to the law of demand.
CA.SS.12.2.1
The Law of Supply and Demand
Discuss the effects of changes in supply and/or demand on the relative scarcity, price, and quantity of particular products.
CA.SS.12.2.2
How Supply and Demand Affect Price
Explain the roles of property rights, competition, and profit in a market economy.
CA.SS.12.2.3
Being an American
Explain how prices reflect the relative scarcity of goods and services and perform the allocative function in a market economy.
CA.SS.12.2.4
 
Understand the process by which competition among buyers and sellers determines a market price.
CA.SS.12.2.5
The Basics of Capitalism
Describe the effect of price controls on buyers and sellers.
CA.SS.12.2.6
 
Analyze how domestic and international competition in a market economy affects goods and services produced and the quality, quantity, and price of those products.
CA.SS.12.2.7
The Factors of Production and Distribution
Explain the role of profit as the incentive to entrepreneurs in a market economy.
CA.SS.12.2.8
 
Describe the functions of the financial markets.
CA.SS.12.2.9
Business Finance
Discuss the economic principles that guide the location of agricultural production and industry and the spatial distribution of transportation and retail facilities.
CA.SS.12.2.10
 
Understand how the role of government in a market economy often includes provid­ing for national defense, addressing environmental concerns, defining and enforcing property rights, attempting to make markets more competitive, and protecting con­sumers’ rights.
CA.SS.12.3.1
The Role of Government
Identify the factors that may cause the costs of government actions to outweigh the benefits.
CA.SS.12.3.2
Managing the Nation’s Economy
Describe the aims of government fiscal policies (taxation, borrowing, spending) and their influence on production, employment, and price levels.
CA.SS.12.3.3
Taxation
Understand the operations of the labor market, including the circumstances sur­rounding the establishment of principal American labor unions, procedures that unions use to gain benefits for their members, the effects of unionization, the mini­mum wage, and unemployment insurance.
CA.SS.12.4.1
The Labor Force
Describe the current economy and labor market, including the types of goods and services produced, the types of skills workers need, the effects of rapid technological change, and the impact of international competition.
CA.SS.12.4.2
Trends in Labor

Amending the Constitution
Discuss wage differences among jobs and professions, using the laws of demand and supply and the concept of productivity.
CA.SS.12.4.3
 
Explain the effects of international mobility of capital and labor on the U.S. economy.
CA.SS.12.4.4
Economic Specialization
Distinguish between nominal and real data.
CA.SS.12.5.1
What Do Economists Do?
Define, calculate, and explain the significance of an unemployment rate, the number of new jobs created monthly, an inflation or deflation rate, and a rate of economic growth.
CA.SS.12.5.2
 
Distinguish between short-term and long-term interest rates and explain their relative significance.
CA.SS.12.5.3
Interest Rates
Identify the gains in consumption and production efficiency from trade, with empha­sis on the main products and changing geographic patterns of twentieth-century trade among countries in the Western Hemisphere.
CA.SS.12.6.1
A Look Inside Macroeconomics
Compare the reasons for and the effects of trade restrictions during the Great Depres­sion compared with present-day arguments among labor, business, and political leaders over the effects of free trade on the economic and social interests of various groups of Americans.
CA.SS.12.6.2
The Evolution of U.S. Trade Policy
Understand the changing role of international political borders and territorial sover­eignty in a global economy.
CA.SS.12.6.3
Issues in Today’s Global Market
Explain foreign exchange, the manner in which exchange rates are determined, andthe effects of the dollar’s gaining (or losing) value relative to other currencies.
CA.SS.12.6.4