Preface

About OpenStax

OpenStax is part of Rice University, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable corporation. As an educational initiative, it’s our mission to transform learning so that education works for every student. Through our partnerships with philanthropic foundations and our alliance with other educational resource companies, we’re breaking down the most common barriers to learning. Because we believe that everyone should and can have access to knowledge.

About OpenStax’s resources

About American Government 3e

American Government 3e aligns to the topics and objectives of many introductory American government courses. We have endeavored to make the government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject at the college level. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens. The organization and pedagogical features were developed and vetted with feedback from a diverse group of American government instructors.

Changes to the third edition

Because the discipline of political science looks closely at our nation’s people, communities, and systems, introductory government texts must remain grounded in scholarship yet attuned to current events and emerging issues. Updates include improvements based on feedback from users, including expanded coverage of historical content on civil rights, and current examples of issues regarding civil rights and civil liberties. The driving principle of these changes is to help students understand that government is neither distant nor unreachable, but that it has personal influences and human impacts. The authors and reviewers sought to confront and illuminate the negative and hurtful aspects of our nation and its history, while demonstrating societal and individual progress. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.

In addition to ensuring data is as current as possible across the book’s narrative text, graphs and charts have been revised for currency as appropriate. Throughout the book, examples, illustrations, and photographs on selected topics have been updated to ensure they are timely and relevant to students today. American Government 3e incorporates the transition to a new administration in 2021 and associated changes across branches, as well as ongoing and recent societal issues. The COVID-19 pandemic is referenced frequently, providing additional opportunities for students to share their own stories, and for instructors to lead into more current government actions and outcomes. The revisions are focused on careful and balanced treatment of the events and developments of recent years, and the manner in which those developments connect to core concepts.

Engaging features

Throughout American Government 3e, you will find features that engage students by taking selected topics a step further. Our features include:

• Get Connected! This feature shows students ways they can become engaged in the U.S. political system. Follow-up may include an activity prompt or a discussion question on how students might address a particular problem.
• Finding a Middle Ground. This feature highlights a tradeoff or compromise related to the chapter’s content area. Follow-up questions guide students to examine multiple perspectives on an issue, think critically about the complexities of the topic, and share their opinions.
• Insider Perspective. This feature takes students behind the scenes of the governmental system to see how things actually work. Follow-up questions ask students for their reaction to this peek inside the “black box” of politics.
• Link to Learning. This feature provides a very brief introduction to a website that is pertinent to students’ exploration of the topic at hand. Included in every module, Link to Learning boxes allow students to connect easily to the most current data on ever-changing content such as poll research, budget statistics, and election coverage.
• Milestone. This feature looks at a key historical moment or series of events in the topic area. Follow-up questions link the milestone to the larger chapter theme and probe students’ knowledge and opinions about the events under discussion.

Effective art program

Our art program is designed to enhance students’ understanding of concepts through clear and effective statistical graphs, tables, and photographs.

Module materials that reinforce key concepts

• Learning Objectives. Every module begins with a set of clear and concise learning objectives. These objectives are designed to help the instructor decide what content to include or assign, and to guide students with respect to what they can expect to learn. After completing the module and end-of-module exercises, students should be able to demonstrate mastery of the learning objectives.
• Summaries. Section summaries distill the information in each module for both students and instructors down to key, concise points addressed in the section.
• Key Terms. Key terms are in bold and are followed by a definition in context. Definitions of key terms are also listed in the Glossary, which appears at the end of the chapter.
• Assessments. Multiple-choice and short-answer Review Questions provide opportunities to recall and test the information students learn throughout each module. End-of-chapter Critical Thinking Questions encourage deeper reflection on the chapter concepts and themes.
• Suggestions for Further Study. This curated list of books, films, and online resources helps students further explore the chapter topic.

Answers to Questions in the Book

Students are provided the answers for the odd-numbered Review Questions. In order to allow instructors as much flexibility as possible, even-numbered answers and all Critical Thinking Question answers are provided only to instructors via the instructor resources.

Additional resources

About the authors