1. Unit 1, Lesson 1 Lesson Focus: What is government?
Think about the following questions:
What is the purpose of a government? That is, what is a government supposed to do for its citizens?
Do you think our government does a good job? Explain your response.
Both of these questions are highly debatable. Let’s make sure your have the knowledge to come up with your own answers!

2. Lesson Focus: What is government?
Standard: SSCG19 The student will compare and contrast governments that are unitary, confederal, and federal; autocratic, oligarchic and democratic; and presidential and parliamentary.
Essential Questions: What is government? What does government do? What are the different forms and systems of government? What role do people have within the government?
Learning Target: I can explain why people come together to form governments and I can differentiate among the various governmental structures that exist throughout the world.

3. What is government? Ruling authority over a group of people
Makes and carries out laws
Makes decisions for people in a community based on the best interests of community members
Think about government like rules and referees in a basketball game. The game would be a free-for-all without some system of organization by the teams so that everyone was working for the same goal. Without a set of rules to work by, there would be nothing but fouls. Whichever player or team was physically stronger would dominate the game without regard to fair play.

4. What does government do for its people?

5. How is our government organized?
National government which is located in Washington, DC, the nation’s capital.
State government which is located in Atlanta, the state capital.
Local government – Chatham County, Savannah
Georgia
Illinois
California
New York
Texas

6. What role do citizens have in their government?
Depends on what form AND system of government the country has.
You need to ask:
Who has the decision making power?
The people or the government leaders
How is power distributed within levels of government?
Centralized or spread out

7. Forms of Government – Answer the question “Who has the decision making power?”
Democracy – a government ruled by the people
Direct – all citizens (legal members of the country, state, city, etc.) are involved with law-making and vote on every issue
Indirect – citizens choose others to speak for them and act on their behalf in the law-making body; also commonly called representative democracy & republic – these terms are interchangeable
Oligarchy – the ruling power rests with a small group of leaders, typically made up of wealthy and elite class, and typically working to benefit members of their own class
Autocracy – the ruling power rests with one person
Monarchy – hereditary power passed from generation to generation within one family
Absolute monarchy – all power lies with the monarch
Constitutional monarchy – the monarch does not have absolute power; power is shared with an elected law-making body and restricted by a constitution (a written plan of government); in this sense, a constitutional monarchy is also a type of representative democracy
Dictatorship (authoritarian) – a single ruler who came to power by force and typically rules with force in order to maintain power
Theocracy – the basis for the ruling power is tied directly to religious law, such as Biblical law or Sharia law; theocracies can be democratic, oligarchic, or autocratic
Anarchy – the absence of government; no rules or systems to protect people from one another; every person for themselves

8. Systems of Government – Answers the question “How is power in government shared?”
Unitary – A system of government in which the power is concentrated with the central government; very little power rests with the state or local governments
Confederation – A system of government in which most power is distributed among state or local governments and very little power is held by the central government
Federation – A system of government in which the power is dispersed equally between the central government and among the various state and local governments
Who is the chief executive (leader) and who puts them in power?
Parliamentary – the elected representatives of the law-making body choose the executive to carry out laws; the executive is part of the legislature
Presidential – all of the citizens choose the executive; the executive is separate from the legislature

9. Illustrating Systems of Government
Using your new understanding of system of government (how power is shared between levels of government), complete the following task in your notes:
Draw three octopi, one to represent a unitary system of government, one to represent a confederal system of government, and one to represent a federal system of government.
Make the head represent the central or national level of government and the arms represent the state, province, or local level of governments. Label these on your octopi.

10. Illustrating Systems of Government
If you paid attention to the definitions of the terms, then your octopi might look like these:
Unitary
Confederal
Federal
Which one’s head and legs look most in proportion? That’s the U.S. system of government.

11. Lesson Closing What form of government does the U.S. have?
See if you can answer the following questions based on your review of these notes:
What form of government does the U.S. have?
What system of government does the U.S. have?
What does it mean that the U.S. has a presidential system of government?