Chapter 4: Amendments and Rights

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Chapter 4 Amendments and Rights
The Conflicts of Understanding Our Freedoms
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Rights

• Are civic (related to society), not moral
  (related to the beliefs of what is right and
  wrong).
• Rights are legal freedoms or claims for one group
  to act without being restrained or to be
  protected from being acted upon.

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Bill of Rights

• First 10 Amendments
• Why it created?
• Protects Civil Rights freedoms that protect
  individuals from the government.
• negative rights rights that come from the
  governments inability to act. (example free
  speech)
• positive rights rights that come from the
  governments ability to act. (example public
  schools)

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1st Amendment

• Congress shall make no law respecting an
  establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
  exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of
  speech, or of the press or the right of the
  people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the
  Government for redress of grievances.
• The cornerstone of democracy.

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1st Amendment

• Freedom of Religion protect the safeguards
  started by the English Colonists. Many believed
  that it was only a protection for other Christian
  religions.
• Freedom of Assembly assembly must be peaceful.
  The government can regulate, but not ban.
• Freedom of Petition Petition- a formal request
  to change an aspect of government.
• Freedom of Press Printed publications and
  sources of media.
• Refrains government from Censorship the use of
  state or group power to control freedom of
  expression.

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Freedom of Speech

• Freedom of Speech- Democracy requires
  communication and the questioning of the status
  quo in order to make the best social decisions.
• Includes public and private speech as well as
  symbols and actions- Tinker v. Des Moines
  Independent Community School District. (pg. 108)

- To Protest the war in Vietnam, students war
black armbands which were promptly banned at
school.
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Limits

• Speech One may not spread lies that harm a
  persons reputation.
• libel when lies are printed
• slander when lies are spoken
• Why create these limits?
• Where do ones rights begin and anothers come
  to an end.

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Rights of the Accused
Why are these important?

• 4th Amendment No unreasonable searches and
  seizures.
• search warrant a court order allowing law
  enforcement officials to search a person or
  location.
• 5th Amendment
• An indictment a formal charge (accusation) from
  a grand jury. To determine if a trial is
  necessary.
• No double jeopardy If found innocent of a
  specific crime, one cannot be tried again for the
  same crime.

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• Right to remain silent to protect people form
  being forced to testify against themselves.
• Due Process one must not be denied their rights
  due to them by the law of the land until
  following the legal process.
• 6th Amendment Trial by jury
• Entitled to a lawyer if you cant afford one,
  the government must provide you with one.
• 8th Amendment Forbids cruel and unusual
  punishment.
• Bail a sum of money used as a security deposit.
  Bail is returned upon appearance in court. No
  excessive bail.

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Additional Rights

• 2nd Amendment A well regulated militia, being
  necessary to the security of a free state, the
  right of the people to bear arms, shall not be
  infringed.
• Regulation is allowed.
• 3rd Amendment No quartering in times of peace.
• 7th Amendment The right to a jury trial in
  civil cases of the amount 20.
• civil case lawsuits that involve disagreements
  between citizens, and not between the citizens
  and their government (crime).

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• 9th Amendment Makes it clear that citizens have
  rights that are not mentioned in the Bill of
  Rights.
• 10th Amendment The powers not delegated to the
  United States federal government by the
  Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
  are reserved to the States respectively, or the
  people.

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Expanding the Constitution

• 13th Amendment Abolished slavery.
• 14th Amendment Granted citizenship to all those
  born or naturalized in the United States, and
  equal protection under the law.
• 17th Amendment Provided for the elections of
  U.S. senators by popular vote instead of state
  legislatures.
• 18th Amendment Prohibition- the outlawing of
  sale and manufacturing of alcohol in the United
  States. (repealed by the 21st Amendment)
• 19th Amendment women received the right to vote.
• 26th Amendment the right to 18 year olds to vote.

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Civil Rights Struggle

• After slavery came to an end, the racism that
  defended slavery continued to flourish under
  other political, legal, and social conflicts.
• Jim Crow Laws laws requiring the separation
  of African-Americans and whites in most public
  places.

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• Plessy v. Fergurson (1896)- created a precedent
  for segregation.
• Separate, but equal
• Fight for civil rights which were ensured rights
  of full citizenship and equal protection under
  the law (derived from which amendment?).
• NAACP (National Association for the Advancement
  of Colored People) was established in 1909 to
  help overturn Separate, but Equal.
• Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, KS (1954)
  Overturned Plessy v. Fergurson under the 14th
  Amendment.
• Affirmative Action Programs to try to make up
  for past discrimination.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.- African-American
Struggles
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Womens Suffrage
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Harvey Milk- Gay Rights Struggle