"A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to Farce or Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

• James Madison

Welcome to civic literacy, in which we will be achieving what James Madison had hoped for in the quote above; learning about how democracy creates a government of the people.  To accomplish the goals of civic literacy we will dissecting founding principles of U.S. government, evaluating our role through civic engagement, and analyzing how the generations of Americans have adapted the ideals of government.  My role as your teacher is to be a facilitator of that exploration and allow you the student to see different perspectives and formulate your own interpretations of the grand experiment established by our founding fathers.