Chapter 17

Summary 

Chapter 17 regards both the protection of American citizen’s rights “from abuse by government and the protection through government of [their] right to be free from abuse by [their] fellow citizens.” Here, we focus on the struggles of African Americans, women, Hispanics, Asian Americans to secure the civil rights to the vote, to an a education, to a job, and to a place to live on equal terms with their fellow citizens. There have been a series of constitutional amendments, laws passed by Congress, and Supreme Court Decisions that have secure these basic rights for minorities in the United Stated. One example of a constitutional amendment would be the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) is a Supreme court case which struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine that had justified segregated schools in the South, but school districts responded slowly. In 1969 the Supreme Court demanded immediate compliance, and some federal courts mandated busing children across neighborhoods to comply. Still, full integration has proved almost impossible, as "White Flight" has made many inner cities and their schools predominantly black or Hispanic. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is an example of a law passed by Congress to eliminate discrimination. African Americans were mainly subject to the oppression of the white people but they fought their way through the emancipation of slavery then on to obtaining equal rights under the law—right to vote, etc. But both groups of individuals still had to go from segregation to desegregation, and on to working on integration between both races.

 Key Terms 

Civil rights: Rights to personal liberty that was established by the 13th and 14th amendments in the Constitution.

Civil liberties: the freedom of an individual to exercise customary rights without the interference from the government.  

 

Natural rights: the rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.

Affirmative action: remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.


 

Equal Opportunity: policies in employment that do not discriminate against a person's race, color, religion,sexage, etc

Women’s suffrage: the right of women to vote.

 
 

Equal protection clause: clause on the 14th amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. By interpretation, the Fifth Amendment imposes the same limitation on the national government. This clause is the major constitutional restraint on the power of governments to discriminate against persons because race, national origin, or sex.

 Due process clause: clause in the 5th amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the 14th amendment prohibiting state governments from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

White primary: democratic party primary in the old “one-party south” that was limited to white people and essentially constituted an election; ruled unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright (1944)

 

Racial gerrymandering: the drawing of election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district; ruled unconstitutional in Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960)

 

Poll tax:  tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966)

   Grandfather clause: an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a 
new rule will apply to all future situations.

Literacy test: literacy requirement some states imposed as a condition of voting, generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.

 Majority-minority district: a congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.

Jim Crow Laws: State laws formerly pervasive throughout the south requiring public facilities and accommodations to be segregated by race; ruled unconstitutional.

 

De jure segregation: segregation imposed by law.

 

De facto segregation: segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.

 

Commerce clause: the clause of the constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations

 

Term Quiz:

 

1.       _______________ is tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966)

2.       A _______________ is a an exemption that allows people to continue with an activity they were engaging in before it became illegal through a change in regulation.

3.       ______________ are the rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.

4.       ______________ is a clause in the 14th amendment that forbids any state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. By interpretation, the Fifth Amendment imposes the same limitation on the national government. This clause is the major constitutional restraint on the power of governments to discriminate against persons because race, national origin, or sex.

5.       ______________ is remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.

6.       The clause in the 5th amendment limiting the power of the national government is called ______________.

7.       Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice is called ______________.

8.       The clause of the constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations is called_____________.

9.       The _____________ is a democratic party primary in the old “one-party south” that was limited to white people and essentially constituted an election.

10.   The ______________is a literacy requirement some states imposed as a condition of voting, generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.

11.   State laws formerly pervasive throughout the south requiring public facilities and accommodations to be segregated by race—ruled unconstitutional—are called ______________.

12.   ______________is a congressional district created to include a majority of minority voters; ruled constitutional so long as race is not the main factor in redistricting.

13.   The right of women to vote is called _____________.

14.   ______________ is segregation imposed by law.

15.   The drawing of election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district is known as ______________. 

16.   A _______________is a provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement of such deeds is unconstitutional. 

Answers:

1.       Poll tax

2.     Grandfather clause     

3.       Natural rights

4.       Equal Protection Clause

5.       Affirmative Action

6.       Due process law

7.       De facto segregation

8.       Commerce clause

9.       White primary

10.   Literacy Test

11.   Jim Crow Laws

12.   Majority-minority district

13.   Women Suffrage

14.   De jure segregation

15.   Racial gerrymandering

16.   Restrictive Covenant

Restrictive covenant: a provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement of such deeds is unconstitutional.  

 
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