AP Government & Politics Ch. 5 Key Terms Flashcards
To understand our Civil Rights and Public Policy.
Civil Rights
Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.
Fourteenth Amendment
Equal protection of the laws.
Equal Protection of the Laws
Part of the 14th Amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent “protection” to all people.
Thirteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment ratified after the Civil War that forbade slavery & involuntary servitude.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, & restaurants illegal & forbade many forms of job discrimination.
Suffrage
The legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the 15th Amendment, to women by the 19th Amendment, & to people over the age of 18 by the 26th Amendment.
Fifteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans.
Poll taxes
Small taxes levied on the right to vote that often fell due at a time of year when poor African American sharecroppers had the least cash on hand.
White primary
One of the means used to discourage African Americans voting that permitted political parties in the heavily Democratic South to exclude African Americans from primary elections, thus depriving them of a voice in the real contests.
Twenty-fourth Amendment
The constitutional amendment passed in 1964 that declared poll taxes void in federal elections.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
A law designed to help end formal & informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered, and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically.
Nineteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote.
Equal Rights Amendment
A constitutional amendment originally introduced in Congress in 1923 & passed by Congress in 1972, stating that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the U.S. or by any state on account of sex.”
Comparable worth
The issue raised when women who hold traditionally female jobs are paid less than men for working at jobs requiring comparable skill.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
A law passed in 1990 that requires employers & public facilities to make “ reasonable accommodations” for people with disabilities & prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment.
