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Today’s Agenda

Today’s Agenda. What’s so hard about Civil Rights? Where do they come from? The state and federal fight over civil rights a) The Civil War and its aftermath Post-Civil War, the fight continues a) Jim Crow laws. The bus boycott 1955. Selma March 1965.

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Today’s Agenda

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  1. Today’s Agenda • What’s so hard about Civil Rights? • Where do they come from? • The state and federal fight over civil rights • a) The Civil War and its aftermath • Post-Civil War, the fight continues • a) Jim Crow laws

  2. The bus boycott 1955

  3. Selma March 1965 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALyk8xOc5ZU

  4. LBJ’s speech after the Selma march “There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue. It iswrong -- deadly wrong -- to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. There is no issue of States' rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights.”

  5. What are Civil Rights? • If government is a loaded gun in a playground full of kids • Civil rights are the safety mechanism

  6. Japanese Internment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOGSnx2k7b8

  7. What are Civil Rights? • If government is a loaded gun in a playground full of kids • Civil rights are the safety mechanism • Guarantees against someone using government to abuse you • To gain economic or political advantages over you • Things Government must provide

  8. Everybody on the Same Page? • Do people get their rights simply because they are in the Constitution? • Are states beholden to these “rights?”

  9. Dred Scott Case 1857 • Dred Scott, a slave, travels through the North and claims that he cannot be returned to servitude because he has the right to be free. • The government cannot take away his freedom • Southern states claim that he is property and must be returned • Also, the feds cannot tell the states what to do about slavery

  10. Dred Scott Case 1857 • Were slaves citizens or property? • North: should be accorded the same rights as whites • South: the Feds cannot deny my right to property • Only the second time the Supreme Court overrules an Act of Congress

  11. Civil War Amendments • 13th - slavery is abolished formally

  12. Civil War Amendments • 13th - slavery is abolished formally • 14th - all persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

  13. Civil War Amendments • 13th - slavery is abolished formally • 14th - all persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. • 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.

  14. Civil War Amendments • 13th - slavery is abolished formally • 14th - all persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. • 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. • 15th -right to vote is guaranteed in all states, regardless of race, color, or previous servitude

  15. Jim Crow Laws • Grandfather Clauses • Poll Taxes • White Primary • Literacy Tests

  16. Literacy Tests • What body can try impeachments of the President of the United States?

  17. Literacy Tests • What body can try impeachments of the President of the United States? • At what time of day on Jan. 20 does the President’s term end?

  18. Literacy Tests • What body can try impeachments of the President of the United States? • At what time of day on Jan. 20 does the President’s term end? • Can you imprisoned for debt?

  19. Literacy Tests • What body can try impeachments of the President of the United States? • At what time of day on Jan. 20 does the President’s term end? • Can you imprisoned for debt? • In what year did Congress gain the right to prohibit the migration of persons to the United States?

  20. Literacy Tests • What body can try impeachments of the President of the United States? • At what time of day on Jan. 20 does the President’s term end? • Can you imprisoned for debt? • In what year did Congress gain the right to prohibit the migration of persons to the United States? • If a person accused of treason denies his guilt, how many people must testify against him before he can be convicted?

  21. Jim Crow Laws • Grandfather Clauses • Poll Taxes • White Primary • Literacy Tests

  22. Apartheid Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) “Separate but Equal” • Residential segregation • Segregation in schools • Economic segregation

  23. Domestic Terrorism • Lynching • Burning • KKK

  24. A Night Rider (1908)

  25. “American Lynching” A documentary film by Gode Davis and James M. Fortier http://www.americanlynching.com/

  26. Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith (1930)

  27. What are factions? “… a number of citizens (either a majority or minority number) who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens…” James Madison, Federalist #10

  28. Review Question 2 True or False? In the United States, elections only take place on even-numbered years.

  29. Review Question 3 The framers feared majority rule because they thought it could have which of the following negative effects? • It would hamper swift decision making • It could undermine freedom and threaten individual rights • Decision-making in a large society would be extremely difficult • All of the above • None of the above

  30. Remember This! • The framers made it VERY hard to let the federal government do its job (on purpose), because they distrusted its power.   • Rights and liberties are part of that distrust of power. • They literally had to spell them out.  

  31. Remember This! • The framers made it VERY hard to let the federal government do its job (on purpose), because they distrusted its power.   • Rights and liberties are part of that distrust of power. • The framers literally had to spell them out.   • You need to understand that personal freedom often trumps effective government in our Constitution (blasphemy!).  

  32. Makes it hard to: …Fight wars …Fight crime …Build a “culture” • Why can’t I outlaw Dane Cook and Paris H.? …Build roads • not in my backyard! …Run your government • the press is killing me! …Clean or “protect” the environment • I have property rights!

  33. Jim Crow Era

  34. Jim Crow Era

  35. Historical Changes • Black voters originally tied to Republican Party • Party of abolition and Lincoln • 1930’s (Depression hits, “New Deal”) • Roosevelt (FDR) uses federal government “goodies” to distribute to people evenly • Nearly 20 years of Democratic federal control • Court appointments • Black (voters) moving North

  36. Historical Changes • Truman integrates the armed forces • 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka • Reverses “Separate but Equal” • Isn’t education a state responsibility? • What trumps this state claim?

  37. Can the Courts Enforce?

  38. Power of Faction

  39. State or Federal Control?

  40. Keep these themes in mind • Use of non-violence as a political tactic • How is this different than using the courts to press for change? • Federal vs. State sovereignty • Role of the press and what it does

  41. LBJ’s speech after the Selma march “There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue. It iswrong -- deadly wrong -- to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. There is no issue of States' rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights.”

  42. 1964 Civil Rights Act • Discrimination in public accommodations outlawed • Withhold federal funds from segregated schools • Barred employment discrimination

  43. 1965 Voting Rights Act • Vote examiners sent to southern states to monitor vote process • Literacy tests outlawed • Bringing a court case against a state or local government became easier

  44. Effects of 1965 VRA

  45. Effects of VRA

  46. Discrimination • Loving • Shelley (state action) • Reed So far, the Court had only decided one gender discrimination case in favor of the woman. This was a case in which divorced parents were deciding who would be in charge of the estate • Frontiero

  47. Gender Pre-Reed • Before: women could be prevented from practicing law, serving on juries, working as barmaids, voting (before the constitutional amendment), • Supreme Court of Illinios: “That God designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action, and that it belonged to men to make, apply, and execute the laws, was regarded as an almost axiomatic truth . . .” • Supreme Court during the Lochner era: “the physical well-being of woman becomes an object of public interest and care in order to preserve the strength and vigor of the race” (comparing women with children – since they are incapable of taking care of themselves, they need the help of government protection, just like children). • Barmaid = as long as the reason is “entertainable” • Frontiero: woman in the military – her husband was going to school and dependent on her. Women were automatically granted dependence on husbands, not husbands on wives, though.

  48. Craig • Oklahoma had a law that said that if you were a woman, you could drink when you are 18, but if you were a man, you had to wait until you were 21. 93% of those arrested for drunk driving were male, and arrests had increased 138%. • strict scrutiny test – presumption of unconstitutionality – “least restrictive means for a compelling state interest” – this probably isn’t the least restrictive means • rational basis – reasonable measure for a legitimate purpose – there is a legitimate purpose since men drink and drive more • OK. For doctrines, such as clear and present danger, and the “tests” five people have to sign onto that doctrine. That was the problem here: only four agreed to strict scrutiny. Otherwise, it is just dicta. • heightened – WHAT? • Important and substantially related.

  49. Craig • What does Craig teach you about rights, liberties and the Supreme Court? • Jurisprudence? • Bargaining • Political

  50. Other Civil Rights Issues • Elderly Rights • Disabled Rights • Gay Rights • Women’s Rights • Parent Rights • Latino Voting Rights

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