Foundations of American Government

Chapter two covers the founding of the United States, which includes the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. These documents are still relevant to understanding American government today. The Articles of Confederation, while no longer a governing document, provides a historic background to the division and sometimes still conflicting interests of the State and National governments. As you read chapter two, you should read these three important documents (Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution). The documents are all located in the textbook. After reading the documents, post a discussion thread by answering the following questions.

Declaration of Independence – Read the Declaration of Independence and answer the following questions:

1. Identify the specific phrases and/or words in the first three paragraphs that are most significant to you and explain in your own words why this language was important to the colonists as well as to America today.
2. The remainder of the Declaration is a list of grievances the colonists had with the King of England. Read over these criticisms and identify, which if any would have motivated you toward Independence? 
3. What was the purpose in writing the Declaration of Independence? What is the value of the Declaration of Independence today?

In order to receive credit, you are required to:

• Submit a discussion thread divided into paragraphs following the aforementioned questions/topics.
  • Penalties for not following this requirement will range from 5 to 10 points.
• Provide comprehensive responses by using the textbook as the primary source of information.
  • Penalties for not using the textbook as the primary source of information will range from 5 to 20 points.
• Submit your main response in at least 250 words. 
  • Penalties for not following the length requirement for any response/reply will range from 5 to 30 points.
• Reply to at least three classmates in at least 70 words per reply.
  • In your reply, identify something you had not previously been aware of or something which challenges you to think differently.
  • Each reply will be worth five (5) points.
• Submit all discussion posts within the due date.
  • No late submission will be allowed or graded unless it involves a documented emergency or accommodation.
• Avoid copy-and-paste and unnecessary quotations.
  • Use paraphrasing instead of quoting.
    • You should use a quote only when the same idea cannot be stated differently or when doing so would diminish its academic value. The latter is not applicable in our case and the former is rarely needed.
• Provide, when paraphrasing, in-text citations and references in the APA writing format.
  • Penalties for not providing in-text citations and/or references will range from 10 to 40 points.
  • Plagiarism will not be tolerated. A failing grade for the assignment and/or the course will be awarded pursuant to the SPC Academic Integrity Policy. https://go.spcollege.edu/AcademicHonesty/ 
  • See the following links for specific information on how to provide in-text citations and references.
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLlLIYxeGls (in-text citations)
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiL4H09v0gU (quoting v. paraphrasing)
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO9ABVfaLGE (Web citation)
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8qGZkgnxSk (Article citation)