Civil Rights Flashcards
What are civil liberties?
Fundamental individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech, religion and association, many of these found in the Bill of Rights, generally intended tp give individual freedom from government authority
What are civil rights?
Additional protections that ensure groups of citizens are not discriminated against like the 14th amendment (1865), or landmark Supreme Court cases like Brown v Topeka (1954) or Roe V Wade (1973) or legislation through congress like the Voting Rights Act 1965
What did the framers of the Constitution sought to protect US citizens from?
An overly powerful government
What are inalienable rights?
Right that cannot be taken away, which the framer believe people had so designed the constitution with a complex amendment process, leading to entrenched rights
What is the first amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, potion the government for a redress of grievances
What is the second amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Rights to keep and bear arms
What is the third amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Right not to have military troops quartered in private homes
What is the fourth amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Right not to have unreasonable searches and seizures
What is the fifth amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Right of people accused of a crime
What is the sixth amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Right to a fair trial
What is the seventh amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Rights to a trial by jury in common law suits over a certain value
What is the eighth amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Right not to face excessive bail or fines, nor cruel or unusual punishment
What is the ninth amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Rights that are not enumerated by the Constitution are still held by the people and are protected
What is the tenth amendment in the Bill of Rights (1791)?
Right of the states to retain powers that are not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution
When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791 who did it apply to?
Free persons, so not slaves or women
What is the thirteenth amendment (1865)?
Abolished slavery
What is the fourteenth amendment (1868)?
Gave former enslaved people full citizenship and grants all citizens ‘equal protection’ under the law and the government cannot remove a citizens life or freedoms without ‘due process’
What is the fifteenth amendment (1870)?
Gave men of all race the right to vote, including form enslaved people
What is the nineteenth amendment (1920)?
Gave women the right to vote on the same terms as men
What is the twenty-fourth amendment (1964)?
Gave Americans the right to vote without needing to pay a tax, which tended to disenfranchise African-Americans
What was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)?
One of the most controversial civil rights amendments and was never ratified, so is not apart of the constitution, tough would make it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sex, ERA passed Congress in 1972 and was ratified by 35 states, though did not meet the 38 states needed with the final deadline for ratification in1982 expiring it, though has came back to the mainstream
Explain Shelley V Kraemer (1948)?
Restrictive convents which banned the sale of homes to African-Americans were ruled unconstitutional
Explain Reynolds V Sims (1964)?
Right of voters to vote within legislative district that is equal in population to other legislative districts
Explain Griswold V Connecticut (1965)?
Right to use contraceptives within marriage
Explain Miranda V Arizona (1966)?
Right of suspects to be informed their Fifth amendment rights before being questioned by the police
Explain Loving V Virginia (1967)?
State laws on interracial marriage were declared unconditional
Explain regents of University of California V Bakke (1978)?
Affirmative action in university applications process could be constitutional in certain cases
Explain Lawrence V Texas (2003)?
Right to engage in private consensual homosexual activity between adults
Explain District of Columbia V Heller (2008)?
Individual right to bear arms
Explain Obergefell V Hodges (2015)?
Right of same-sex couples to marry
Explain Masterpiece Cakeshop V Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)?
Right of a business owner to refuse service on the basis of religious beliefs
Explain Espinosa V Montana Department of Revenue (2020)?
Right of parents to access state aid to send their children to a private religious shcool
Explain Espinosa V Montana Department of Revenue (2020)?
Right of parents to access state aid to send their children to a private religious school
What are the methods used by pressure groups to promote and support rights?
Fundraising to pay for adverting campaigns and lobbying
Public campaigning including online campaigns, social media rallies and direct action
Lobbying
Legal campaigning including sponsoring legal cases or writing amicus curiae briefs
What is the ACLU?
American Civil Liberties Union, who defend the civil liberties of all Americans, even members of racists groups because it argues that every individual must have its rights protected
What are some groups that defend civil rights and liberties?
The ACLU, the NAACP, METOO and the anti-lockdown movement
What laws have southern says had to ensure racial segregation?
‘Jim Crow laws’
Which Supreme Court case did the court rule that the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ facilities for white and collar people was legal?
Plessy v Ferguson (1896)
What acts did the civil rights movement help get support for them to pass?
Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
What did the Democrats argue for in the 1960s in an attempt to reverse deep inequalities faced by African-Americans?
Affirmative action, which is a positive form of discrimination, which makes it easier for people from racial minorities to get a job or win a place at university
What was the difference in turnout for African-Americans in Mississippi in 1964 and 1969?
1964: 7%
1969: 67%
What is one thing that discriminates against African-Americans more than whites?
Incarceration rates, with a black man born in 2001 having a 1 in 3 chance of spending time in prison, while a white man born in 2001 has a 1 in 17
How many states allow people convicted of a felony from voting?
2
