C.8.1 Identify and explain democracy's basic principles, including individual rights, responsibility for the common good, equal opportunity, equal protection of the laws, freedom of speech, justice, and majority rule with protection for minority rights

C.8.2 Identify, cite, and discuss important political documents, such as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and landmark decisions of the Supreme Court, and explain their function in the American political system

C.8.3 Explain how laws are developed, how the purposes of government are established, and how the powers of government are acquired, maintained, justified, and sometimes abused

C.8.4 Describe and explain how the federal system separates the powers of federal, state, and local governments in the United States, and how legislative, executive, and judicial powers are balanced at the federal level

C.8.5 Explain how the federal system and the separation of powers in the Constitution work to sustain both majority rule and minority rights

C.8.6 Explain the role of political parties and interest groups in American politics

C.8.7 Locate, organize, and use relevant information to understand an issue of public concern, take a position, and advocate the position in a debate

C.8.8 Identify ways in which advocates participate in public policy debates

C.12.1 Identify the sources, evaluate the justification, and analyze the implications of certain rights and responsibilities of citizens

C.12.2 Describe how different political systems define and protect individual human rights

C.12.3 Trace how legal interpretations of liberty, equality, justice, and power, as identified in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and other Constitutional Amendments, have changed and evolved over time

C.12.4 Explain the multiple purposes of democratic government, analyze historical and contemporary examples of the tensions between those purposes, and illustrate how governmental powers can be acquired, used, abused, or legitimized

C.12.5 Analyze different theories of how governmental powers might be used to help promote or hinder liberty, equality, and justice, and develop a reasoned conclusion

C.12.6 Identify and analyze significant political benefits, problems, and solutions to problems related to federalism and the separation of powers

C.12.7 Describe how past and present American political parties and interest groups have gained or lost influence on political decision-making and voting behavior

C.12.8 Locate, organize, analyze, and use information from various sources to understand an issue of public concern, take a position, and communicate the position

C.12.9 Identify and evaluate the means through which advocates influence public policy

C.12.10 Identify ways people may participate effectively in community affairs and the political process

C.12.11 Evaluate the ways in which public opinion can be used to influence and shape public policy

C.12.12 Explain the United States' relationship to other nations and its role in international organizations, such as the United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and North American Free Trade Agreement

C.12.13 Describe and evaluate ideas of how society should be organized and political power should be exercised, including the ideas of monarchism, anarchism, socialism, fascism, and communism; compare these ideas to those of representative democracy; and assess how such ideas have worked in practice

C.12.14 Explain and analyze how different political and social movements have sought to mobilize public opinion and obtain governmental support in order to achieve their goals