Chapter 4 Reading Guide Flashcards
Civil Liberties
Basic freedoms and liberties. Rooted in the Bill of Rights and the “due process” protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Primarily restrict what the government can do to you (e.g. Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.”)
Basic political freedoms that protect citizens from governmental abuses of power.
Civil Rights
Protection in laws and the “equal protection” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Protects you from discrimination both by the government and individuals.
Rights that guarantee individuals freedom from discrimination. These rights are generally grounded in the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and more specifically laid out in laws passed by Congress, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Bill of Rights
First ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed to assuage the fears of Anti-Federalists who had opposed Constitutional ratification, these amendments guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. Originally the amendments applied only to the federal government, however, most were subsequently applied to the government of each state by way of the Fourteenth Amendment, through a process known as incorporation.
Amendment 13
Abolished slavery
Amendment 14
Citizenship clause (anyone born or naturalized in the U.S.)
No state shall deprive any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of the law.
No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction life liberty or property without due process of law.
Language was intended to make sure that states would not deny newly freed slaves the full protection of the law.
Amendment 15
A constitutional amendment that gave African American men the right to vote
14th Equal Protection Clause
The Equal Protection Clause is part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction “the equal protection of the laws”.
Citizenship Clause
The Citizenship Clause refers to the first sentence of Section 1 in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This clause represented Congress’s reversal of that portion of the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision that declared that African Americans were not and could not become citizens of the United States or enjoy any of the privileges and immunities of citizenship.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside.”
Plessy v Ferguson
“separate but equal”
The idea that racial segregation was acceptable as long as the separate facilities were of equal quality; supported by Plessy v. Ferguson and struck down by Brown v. Board of Education.
Brown v Board of Education
Landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which rejected the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
A landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
How civil liberties were changed by the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause
Forbids states from denying “life, liberty, or property” to any person without due process of law. (A nearly identical clause in the Fifth Amendment applies only to the national government.)
Gitlow v. New York, 1925
Freedom of Speech, right to a fair trial.
Case which FIRST applied a right in the Bill of Rights against state power.
Mapp v Ohio, 1961
Case which ruled that STATE police without a warrant would lose their evidence.
Miranda v. Arizona, 1966
Case which stopped sates from forcing suspects to incriminate themselves.
