• AP U.S. Government and Politics Summer Reading Assignment:

    Please read Federalist Papers 1, 5, 9, 10, 23, 48, 51, 67, 78, and 84.  Then select five additional Federalist Papers to read closely. Your selections can be determined by which of the three authors you particularly enjoy, the pursuit of a particular topic, or any other method that you find to be suitable. toward the beginning of the academic year, students will write an essay in response to an AP Free Response Question about one of the ten specified Federalist Papers. While there are many places to access the Federalist Papers, this website effectively organizes the essays by topic: The Federalist Papers.

    Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar on The Federalist:

    “After the Convention, he (Madison) worked tirelessly for ratification.  He orchestrated the successful defense of the Constitution in all-important Virginia.  He also brilliantly collaborated with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay under the pen name Publius to produce eighty-plus essays comprehensively analyzing and defending the Constitution. Most of Publius’s essays first appeared in mid-1788 as a two-volume book The Federalist. These essays were the most impressive and comprehensive analysis of the Constitution available to Americans deciding whether to vote yes or no.  Centuries later, The Federalist remains the first thing that any thoughtful American who wants to understand the Constitution in historical context should read."

    (The Words that Made Us, page 202)


    Course assignments are available for students on Google Classroom. Grades are entered on Genesis. 

    Extra help is available on Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:30 as well as at jwashburn@mtsd.us anytime.

    As the son of an Irish member (think of our school colors) of the British Parliament, General Richard Montgomery served as a captain in the British Army in the Seven Years' War, then became the second-ranking brigadier general in the Continental Army, led troops into Canada, captured two forts, as well as the city of Montreal, before he lost his life in the attack on Quebec in a fierce snowstorm on December 31, 1775. Let's remember the sacrifices of our school namesake as we consider our collective history and future.              (John Trumbull painted this inspiring image in 1786).