Title: Discussing the 14th Amendment of the Constitution
1Equality in the USA
- Discussing the 14th Amendment of the Constitution
2The Fourteenth Amendment
- No State shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law nor deny to
any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
3Civil Liberties AND Civil Rights
- Civil Liberties (Bill of Rights)
- Individuals protection of his/her freedoms
- Limits prohibitions Govt actions
- Civil Rights (14th Amendment)
- Equal protection under the law
- Gov. actions guarantee equality before law
- What kind of equality is guarantied?
4What are the different types of equality?
- Civil Equality
- No discrimination (religion, belief, etc)
- Political Equality
- Access to authority
- Voting
- Social Equality
- Opportunity
- Privileges
- Natural Equality
- Natural rights
- Economic equality
- Wealth
5Civil Rights applied to who?
The term civil rights includes the equality of
rights for the following minorities in varying
degrees
ETHNICITY
RACE
Gender
RELIGION
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Civil Rights came about as a result of what
contentious peculiar institution in Americas
history?
6Sources of Civil Rights
14th Amendment
Court Decisions
State Legislatures
US Congress
Civil Rights
7Equal Justice under Law
Main Idea The Fourteenth Amendment was designed
to bolster civil rights by requiring states to
guarantee to freed slaves the equal protection
of the laws. However, African Americans and
women still struggled to win equal treatment in
American society.
- Focus
- What is meant by equal protection of the law?
- What civil rights laws were passed after the
Civil War, and why did they fail to end
segregation? - How did women fight for and win voting rights?
- What events began to roll back racial and ethnic
segregation in the United States?
8What is equal protection?
- Amendment doesnt explicitly give a
classification, not even racial ones. - the phrase is intentionally vague or open-ended.
- Who decides what it means, and on what basis?
9What is the Difference between Equality of
condition and equality of opportunity?
- Condition
- Def. circumstances' affecting the way in which
people live or work
- Opportunity
- Def. a set of circumstance that makes it
possible to do something
10Racial Equality
11Dred Scott and the 13th Amendment
1857- African Americans not citizens so they are
not entitled to civil liberties
Dred Scott
1865- Slavery was made illegal
13th Amendment
12Black Codes and the 14th Amendment
Laws that prevented African-Americans from buying
property, signing contracts, and serving on juries
Black Codes
Granted citizenship to all persons born or
naturalized in the United States- Equal
Protection Due Process
14th Amendment
15th Amendment
Gave African-American men the right to vote
131896 Separate but Equal Standard
Plessy v. Ferguson
14Getting around Civil RightsJim Crow Laws
- JIM CROW open the doors for segregation
- De Jure Segregation laws that establish
segregation, targeting specific races to be
consider inferior - De Facto Segregation the practices that society
or communities to segregate themselves
15Major Turning Point in Civil Rights
- Brown v Board of Education
- The Supreme Courts rules that Separate schools
are not Equal - Thurgood Marshall address the court
- Earl Warren Separate educational facilitites
are inherently unequal - Reveres Plessy v Ferguson
- De Jure Segregation is viewed as unjust
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17- Brown v Board of Education II
- Respond to the Souths reaction gt massive
resistance - Federal Governments Response
- 1957 Little Rock High School
- Ike National Guard
- 1962 University of Mississippi
- JFK 82nd Airborne
- 1963 University of Alabama
- JFK forces Governor Wallace to back down
- It would take 15 yrs from Brown I to de-segregate
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19The Civil Rights Movement
- Strategy Non-violent protest of segregated
society - Civil disobedience
- Lunch counter sit-in (1960)
- CORE Freedom Rides
- MLK Birmingham protest march
- Voter registration drives in South
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21Congressional Response
- Civil Rights Acts (1957-1960)
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Voting Rights Act of 1965 (
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23Discrimination Against Ethnic Minorities Groups
- Asian Americans de jure discrimination laws
- California discrimination laws of 1850s
- Exclusion Act of 1882 1892 (Anti-Chinese)
- California laws barring land ownership by Asians
- WWII Internment Camps- upheld by Supreme
Court-1944 - Educational economic success in spite of above
- Growing political influence evident
24Hispanic Americans
- Now largest American minority (13)
- California Texas de jure discrimination laws
- Long history of past discrimination
- Bilingual education debate
- (Spanish or English?)
- Immigration Acts Reformsgt
- continuing concern
- Job discrimination by employers at risk
- Laws against hiring illegal aliens
- Economic demand for labor
25American Indians
- Population decline (70 million gt 210K gt 2.2
million) - (Pre-Columbus gt following European Colonization
gt today) - Brutal history of past discrimination
repression - Trail of Tears regular relocation
- Treaty violations to take Indian lands
- Indian Wars (1864 1890)
- Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)- massacre of
prisoners - Supreme Court decision of 1884 gt
- Indians not citizens
- American Indian Movement (AIM)
- Alcatraz Island occupation (Treaty entitlement)
- Wounded Knee Hostage crisis (1973) gt violence
death - Gradual improvement with time?
26Gradual improvements
- Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
- Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (applied Bill of
Rights) - Supreme Court rulings favor Indian claims
recently - 17.1 M interest for claims against Federal
Gov. - Special hunting fishing rights upheld
- Special status for gambling for California tribe
- Congress Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (States)
- If state allows gamblinggt must give Indians same
rights
27Today
- After 9/11
- Patriot Act
- NSA
- Trayvon Martin
- Racial Profiling
- Paula Dean
- The use of racial slang
28Gender Equality
29Discrimination Against Women
- 19th Century view
- Campaigning for the Right to Vote
- Womens movement Seneca Falls Declaration
- Suffrage campaign for women
- Struggle for right to vote (1860 -1920)
- Finally culminating in what Amendment?
- 19th Amendment
30Womens Fight for Equal Rights on Capitol Hill
- NOW gt Equal Pay Act of 1963 (with mixed results)
- Congress enacts key legislation against
discrimination - Title IX of Higher Education Act of 1972 gt
- Other Legislation advancing womens rights
- Equal Opportunity Credit Act of 1974- loans in
own name - 1978 Congress prohibited job discrimination
for pregnancy - Family Medical Leave Act (1993) (Clintons
support) - Violence Against Women Act (1994) anti-domestic
violence - ERA Amendment falls short of ratification
31Age Discrimination
32Children in labor and education
- Education
- 1821 first public school
- 1864 Indian schools
- 1840 Women training schools
- New Yorks Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children (SPCC) in 1874 - Progressive Era
- Child labor laws
- 1900 30 compulsory schools in the country
- Save the Children Movement (1919)
33- Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924
- A childs right to nutrition, survival, shelter,
proper healthcare, humanitarian relief,
protection from abuse and exploitation and the
right to grow up in a safe environment that
nurtures development - the Rights of the Child (CRC)
- legally protects the rights of children.
- law in 1990.
34Others
35Extending Civil Rights
- People with Disabilities
- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- People with Age Claims
- Age Discrimination Act of 1975
- Exceptions (discussed later) application to
states (TBD) - Gays and Lesbians
- Dont Ask dont Tell
- Gay Marriage and/or Civil Union issue
36KEY TERMS Civil Rights
- Affirmative action Programs designed to take
positive actions to increase the number of women
and minorities in jobs and educational programs. - Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 An act
of Congress that seeks to minimize job
discrimination, to maximize access to government
programs, and ensure access to public
accommodations for people with disabilities. - Brown v. Board of Education The landmark 1954
Supreme Court decision holding that separate was
not equal and that public schools must be
desegregated. - Brown v. Board of Education II The 1955 Supreme
Court decision that stated that the nations
entrenched system of segregated schools should
desegregate with all deliberate speed. - Civil disobedience Nonviolent refusal to obey
laws perceived to be unjust. - Civil rights The equality of rights for all
people regardless of race, sex, ethnicity,
religion, and sexual orientation. Civil rights
are rooted in the courts interpretation of the
Fourteenth Amendment and in laws that Congress
and the state legislature pass. - Civil Rights Act of 1964 An act of Congress that
outlaws racial segregation in public
accommodations and employment and prevents tax
dollars from going to organizations that
discriminate on the basis of race, color, or
national origin. - Civil rights movement The mobilization of people
to push for racial equality. - De facto segregation Segregation that results
from the actions of individuals rather than the
government. - De jure segregation Government-imposed laws that
required African Americans to live and work
separately from white Americans. - Equal Pay Act of 1963 An act of Congress that
banned wage discrimination to people based on
sex, race, religion, or national origin.
37Key Terms (continued)
- Intermediate scrutiny A legal standard for
judging whether a discriminatory law is
unconstitutional. Intermediate scrutiny lies
somewhere between the rational and strict
scrutiny standards. It requires the government to
show that a discriminatory law serves important
governmental interests and is substantially
related to the achievement of those objectives,
or a group to show that the law does not meet
those two standards. - Jim Crow laws Laws that discriminated against
African Americans, usually by enforcing
segregation. - Lynching The unlawful killing, usually by
hanging, of a person by a mob. - Massive resistance The policy many southern
states followed in the wake of the first Brown
decision of fiercely resisting desegregation. - Rational scrutiny A legal standard for judging
whether a discriminatory law is unconstitutional.
Rational scrutiny requires the government only to
show that a law is reasonable and not arbitrary. - Reverse discrimination Laws and policies that
discriminate against whites, especially white
males. - Separate-but-equal standard The now-rejected
Supreme Court doctrine that separation of the
races was acceptable so long as each race was
treated equally. - Strict scrutiny A legal standard for judging
whether a discriminatory law is unconstitutional.
Strict scrutiny requires the government to show a
compelling reason for a discriminatory law. - Suffrage The right to vote.
- Voting Rights Act of 1965 An act of Congress
which bars states from creating voting and
registration practices that discriminate against
African Americans and other minorities. - Womens movement The mobilization of people to
push for equality between the sexes.