National Standards for Civics and
Government

9-12 Content Standards

What are Civic Life, Politics, and Government?

1. What is civic life? What is politics? What is government? Why are government and politics necessary? What purposes should government serve?

2. What are the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited government?

3. What are the nature and purposes of constitutions?

4. What are alternative ways of organizing constitutional governments?

What are the Foundations of the American Political System?

1. What is the American idea of constitutional government?

2. What are the distinctive characteristics of American society?

3. What is American political culture?

4. What values and principles are basic to American constitutional democracy?

How Does the Government Established by the Constitution Embody the Purposes, Values, and Principles of American Democracy?

1. How are power and responsibility distributed, shared, and limited in the government established by the United States Constitution?

2. How is the national government organized and what does it do?

3. How are state and local governments organized and what do they do?

4. What is the place of law in the American constitutional system?

5. How does the American political system provide for choice and opportunities for participation?

What is the Relationship of the United States to Other Nations and to World Affairs?

1. How is the world organized politically?

2. How do the domestic politics and constitutional principles of the United States affect its relations with the world?

3. How has the United States influenced other nations, and how have other nations influenced American politics and society?

What are the Roles of the Citizen in American Democracy?

1. What is citizenship?

2. What are the rights of citizens?

3. What are the responsibilities of citizens?

4. What civic dispositions or traits of private and public character are important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy?

5. How can citizens take part in civic life?