In the current state of the Archmere AP English Language curriculum, students read from The Language of Composition and explore literature on the themes of gender, economics, politics, language, community, and environment. However, the current curriculum excludes a good number of essays in the book. For example, in the essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience”, Henry David Thoreau reacts to slavery and the Mexican-American war by arguing that American citizens have not only a right, but a responsibility, to resist their government when it becomes unjust. Similarly, Sarah Vowell uses her essay “The Partly Cloudy Patriot”, to qualify what it means to be a good citizen while the government takes action she does not support. Vowell’s concerns