Week 10 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Political Science Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 10 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 51–67 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more depth, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (17–20 min total)

① How should power be split between levels?

Chapter 10, Section “Arrange power across levels: unitary, confederal, federal” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Three ways to arrange power” · Remember: unitary puts final authority at the center, confederal puts it in the units, and federalism divides it in the constitution.

Federalism: Crash Course Government and Politics #4 — CrashCourse — a fast, captioned tour of how power is divided between the national government and the States, and how that division has shifted over time; use it while working through the Week-10 module overview. (video, 9 min) (captions: creator)
Systems of Government: Unitary, Federal & Confederal — Pippah Getchell — a short lecture-style overview of the three arrangements of power across levels; as you watch, say where final authority sits in each one before the speaker does. Its one American confederal example is not the chapter's, so keep the Articles of Confederation (1781–1789) as this course's case. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
Articles of Confederation: Primary Documents in American History — Library of Congress — the introduction to a research guide on the first American framework of government, a confederal design; read the introduction only, and notice which level held most of the power. (reading, 2–4 min)

② Where does national power come from, and who checks whom?

Chapter 10, Section “Find the source: enumerated, implied, and reserved powers” · Session 1, Segment 2, “Where national power comes from” · Remember: enumerated is written down, implied is a reasonable tool for a written-down job, and reserved is what is left over.

The Elastic Clause Explained in 3 Minutes: The Constitution for Dummies Series — Hip Hughes — a quick, lively take on the Necessary and Proper Clause and Amendment X side by side; afterward, sort one power it names as enumerated, implied, or reserved. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
Article VI For Dummies: The Supremacy Clause Explained — Hip Hughes — a short walk through Article VI; as you watch, test each claim against this week's rule that supremacy breaks ties between valid laws and grants no power. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
Branches of the U.S. government — USAGov — the federal government's own plain-language page on the three branches and how each one checks the others. This builds on Week 7's work with political institutions: legislatures, executives, and judiciaries. (reading, 3–5 min)

③ What did McCulloch v. Maryland decide?

Chapter 10, Section “Rebuild McCulloch v. Maryland: implied powers and supremacy” · Session 2, Segment 5, “McCulloch versus Maryland” · Remember: the Court upheld the bank as an implied power and barred a State from taxing it, while the meaning of necessary stays contested.

McCulloch v Maryland, EXPLAINED — Heimler's History — a four-minute review of the case's two questions, implied powers and federal supremacy; pause after each question and state the holding yourself. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
Does Congress Have Implied Powers? McCulloch v. Maryland — Mr. Beat — a short case story with the background to the bank and Maryland's tax; check any quotation it uses against the opinion before you repeat it. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) — National Archives — the archive's short introduction to the case, written beside an image of the Court's own record of the decision; read the introduction and note how it describes the bank as an implied power. (reading, 4–7 min)

④ Is the wall of separation in the Constitution?

Chapter 10, Section “Catch the phrase that is not there: the Danbury letter” · Session 2, Segment 6, “The phrase that isn't there” · Remember: Amendment I names establishment and free exercise, and the wall phrase comes from Jefferson's letter of 1802.

A Wall of Separation: FBI Helps Restore Jefferson's Obliterated Draft — Library of Congress Information Bulletin — a curator's article on how the draft of Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists was recovered; it offers one historian's reading of why the letter was written, so treat that part as an interpretation others dispute. (reading, 8–12 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819) — Legal Information Institute — the full opinion this course quotes; use your browser's find command to search for Let the end be legitimate and for power to tax, read those two passages, then stop unless you want more. (reading, 5–10 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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