Please answer the following essay questions. Answer the questions in your own words and make precise references to the texts where appropriate (i.e., page numbers). Please type your answers and hand them to me by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 22. Late exams will not be accepted.

1) Describe the development of civil rights for African-Americans. How does the U.S. political system work to the disadvantage of minority groups seeking to secure civil rights? What do such groups need to accomplish, politically, in order to secure the institutional preconditions for the effective enjoyment of civil rights? (15 pts)

2) Describe the particular challenges that Hispanics face in securing civil rights. (10 pts.)

3) What are civil liberties? How did civil liberties in the area of religion, speech, press, and privacy develop over the course of the twentieth century? Make sure you reference specific doctrines and case names where appropriate, and make sure you discuss all four liberties mentioned in the question. (15 pts.)

4) What are the main concerns expressed by critics of the government's "Total Information Awareness" program? What are the main defenses of the program? (Note: see the readings in the Principles book.) (15 pts.)

5) Explain the basic problems of legislative organization and how they are resolved in both the House and the Senate. (15 pts.)

6) Describe the battles over the budget that have characterized the late twentieth century Congress. What features of our candidate-centered system make budget politics difficult? (10 pts.)

7) How does a bill become a law? Make sure that you note all the significant steps in both houses of Congress, what happens at each stage, and note the points at which a bill is most likely to be defeated. (10 pts.)

8) Describe the main functions of the U. S. President in the nineteenth century. (10 pts.)