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Florida Civic Literacy Exam (FCLE) Study Guide

This competency section will teach students how to identify, explain, interpret, and apply the principles and practices of American democracy and the republican form of government.

This page contains full length lectures, PowerPoint slides, links to short videos, and written summaries. All of them cover material that corresponds to FCLE questions.  

Slides and Recorded Lecture

These slides and the recorded presentation have been shared from Miami-Dade University

Concepts

The Social Contract 

  • Constitutional Principles: Consent of the Governed. This video discusses John Locke’s ideas about the importance of “life, liberty, and property,” “consent of the governed”, and “popular sovereignty,” and how these democratic ideals inspired the American Revolution. 

Checks and Balances/Separation of Powers   

Rule of Law   

  • Court Shorts: Rule of Law. In this video, U.S. judges define the rule of law and give examples of its importance, not only in Americans’ daily lives, but in establishing and maintaining a functioning democracy and civilization. 

Due Process 

Equality Under the Law   

  • The Meaning of Equality Under the Law. This video defines what equality under the law is, gives instances of how it has been violated in the past, and provides examples of when discrimination may not be considered to be a violation of equality under the law. 

Popular Sovereignty   

Natural Rights and Natural Law   

Federalism   

Individual Liberty 

Republicanism and Representative Democratic Government   

  • What is a Republic? This video defines a republic and explains the relationship between republics and democracies. 

Constitutionalism 

Majority Rule and Minority Rights   

  • Majority Rule, Minority Rights. This video discusses the benefits and limitations of majority rule using general examples. The video also uses specific historical examples to outline how the U.S. government has worked to balance majority rule and minority rights in American law.   

Equal Protection 

  • Equal Protection: Crash Course Government and Politics #29. The video explains equal protection in the Constitution, namely in the fourteenth amendment, and it gives historical examples to explain this principle’s application, including Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education   

Bill of Rights and the Protections of Civil Rights and Liberties   

  • Origins and Purposes of the Bill of Rights | BRI's Homework Help Series. This video discusses the English documents that inspired the creation of the U.S. Bill of Rights, including the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. The video explains why the Bill of Rights was important to eighteenth-century Americans and how the Bill of Rights has impacted recent legal cases by giving examples of when Americans liberties have been limited. 

Elections