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CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 5
The Two-Party System
Read the situation. Connect the ideas. Show how you know.
Name ___________________________Class __________ Date __________
01 Recall, then make a connection.
political party
coalition
plurality
How might a political party seek a coalition under a plurality election rule? Explain why winning the most votes is not the same as winning a majority.
Read the situation.
Political parties organize people around candidates and policy priorities. They can recruit candidates, coordinate campaigns, develop platforms, and help voters identify broad choices. Parties are not branches of government, and the Constitution does not require exactly two parties. American party coalitions and names have changed over time. The early Federalist and Democratic-Republican competition should not be treated as a simple set of identical labels for today’s parties.
02 Organize the information.
Party organization or government power?
Classify each role as described.
Sort the cards.
A. Party organizing activityB. Governmental action requiring public authority
Example
Category letter
1. Developing a campaign platform.
2. Recruiting candidates to seek office.
3. Passing a statute through a legislature.
4. Issuing a court judgment in a case.
5. Coordinating volunteers for a campaign.
6. Administering a public program under law.
Explain one placement using a detail from the example.
CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 5
What does the evidence show?
The Two-Party System
03 Follow the evidence.
Did the coalition change the platform?
A fictional coalition claims that joining two groups changed the party’s transit and park priorities.
Select every record directly useful for checking that claim.
The platform before negotiations and the final adopted platform.
Meeting records identifying which proposed priorities were added, revised, or rejected.
An opinion poll that asks only whether people recognize the party’s name.
The number of posters printed before negotiations began.
Name the useful records and explain how they answer the claim.
04 Apply the idea.
Correct the two-party shortcut
A summary says, “The same two parties have always existed, and no other political organization can matter.” The Library of Congress documents early parties emerging from disputes over federal power and policy.
Which correction is accurate?
Party systems and coalitions have changed; two-party dominance does not mean the Constitution requires two parties or that other organizations have no influence.
Every party has kept the same members and platform since 1787.
Political parties are the legislative and judicial branches under different names.
Choose a conclusion and explain why it fits the situation.
05 Carry the idea forward.
Explain how the fictional election rule could encourage coalition building. Include the 42% result, one benefit of a broad coalition, one unresolved trade-off, and a correction to the claim that two parties are constitutionally required.