Post on 31-Dec-2015
description
Constitution: The Law of the Land
FocusThe Amendments allow people to change
the Constitution to meet current needs
Abolishing SlaverySlavery and the Framers
Southerners thought their farming economics would fail without slaves
Framers had to eliminate abolishing slavery so both north and south states would ratify the constitution
Framers agreed on the 3/5 compromise and it made it so slaves were returned to owners and count as 3/5 of a person for representation
Tension between North and SouthCompeted for power of CongressNorth was more populous and South
counted slaves1820 Missouri Compromise: divided new
lands into “slave territories and “free” Territories
2 sides: for slavery vs. anti-slavery
Controversy in the courts1857, Dred Scott DecisionScott and owner traveled from Missouri to
IL and WIMoved back to MissouriScott said he was free because he made
residence in WI (free territory)Court ruled that Constitution said slaves
were property and had to be returned to owners
13th Amendment1858, Lincoln warned US couldn’t be half
slave and half free…all or nothingCivil war took 600,000 livesAbolished slavery in 1865
African Americans and votingStates still had the power to decide who
could be a citizenBoth north and South denied citizenship to
blacks
14th Amendment1868, gave citizenship to African Americans“ All persons born or naturalized in US…are
citizens of the US and of the state wherein they reside.”
No state can deprive person of life, liberty , property without due process of law
Didn’t prevent private citizens from mistreating African Americans
15th and 24th Amendment15th: 1870, states may not deny the vote to
anyone on race or color24th: 1964, poll taxes are declared illegal
Women and the right to VoteTraditional Ideas about women
Expected to stay at home1800’s women started to work in factories:
many believed that they were unable to handle those jobs
Thought women were being irresponsible to families
Thought women were less intelligent than men
Challenging traditional ViewWomen in the work force increasedOmen became active in Political issuesInsisted on right to vote (suffrage)1848, Seneca Falls women’s conventionGained attention due to marches,
speeches, writing in newspapersFrom 1878 to 1918 proposed the right to
vote, but failed each time
19th Amendment1918 House approved amendment1919 Senate approves1920 Ratified by states
Youth and the right to voteFrom colonial through mid 1900’s voting
age was 21Wars fought made people believe that if
you could fight and die for your country you should be allowed to vote
1970 law allows 18 year old to vote (only national levels)
26th Amendment in 1971 passed and voting age is 18 at all levels
A Flexible FrameworkConstitution provides general guidelines,
not specifics
Equality and SegregationPlessy vs. Ferguson (1896)Many states, after 14th amendment, required
segregation (separation of blacks and whites)Homer Plessy refused to leave a “whites only”
railroad car. He said law requiring segregation violated right to equal protection
Court ruled that law did not violate as long as black and white train cars were of equal quality
“separate but equal” accepted for 50 years
Opposition to Segregation Many schools and other places were not as
good for blacks as for whitesEven when equal quality many felt that
blacks were being treated as inferior. 1950 Thurgood Marshall, lawyer for NAACP
brought to the Supreme Court cases that involved unequal segregation
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)Linda Brown (black girl) lived 7 blacks from white
school. She was required to travel 21 blocks to go to her all black school
Linda’s parents wanted her to attend the closer school. Her parents took the school to court
Thurgood Marshall said separate school are harmful for both black and white kids. Black kids felt inferior and white kids felt superior. Separate but equal not equal
Supreme Court ruled separate schools were “inherently unequal”
Brown v. Board overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and made all segregation laws unconstitutional
Equality and Affirmative Action1960’s Civil Rights laws-guards against
racial discriminationLaws can’t change years of racial
discriminationGovernment began to correct years of
unfair hiring practices Affirmative Action = steps to counteract
effects of past racial discrimination and discrimination against women
Regents of the Univ of CA v. BakkeUC Medical School Reserved places in each class for
African Americans, Hispanic, and Native American Students
In 1973 and 1974 white student rejected admittance even though he had higher grades than others
Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny admittance because of race
Race could be a factor if the school wished to create a more diverse student body, but couldn’t discriminate from whites
CA law 209 forbid state universities and employers from considering race or ethnicity
Women and EqualityPhillips v. martin Marietta Corporation
(1971)Phillips, female, denied job because she
had small children (asked this question on application)
She took to court because she hadn’t been treated equally because men were not questioned about their kids
Court rules that you couldn’t have one hiring policy for men and another for women