Ch. 4

1
Ch. 4

• Amendments to the Constitution

2
The First Amendment

• The Bill of Rights, which was added to the
  Constitution in 1791, protects our civil
  liberties
• the freedoms we have to think and act without
  government interference or fear of unfair
  treatment

3
The First Amendment

• The 1st Amendment protects five basic freedoms
• Religion
• Speech
• Press
• Assembly
• Petition

4
Freedom of Religion

• Congress may not establish a official religion,
  favor one religion over another, or treat people
  differently because of their beliefs
• People may practice their faith as they wish
• Thomas Jefferson referred to it as a, wall of
  separation between church and state

5
Freedom of Speech

• In some countries, people can be jailed for
  criticizing the government or voicing unpopular
  ideas.
• We are guaranteed the right to say what is on our
  minds, privately or publicly, without fear of
  punishment
• Freedom of speech includes conversations, radio,
  and T.V. also protects forms of expression
  ex. Tinker v. Des Moines (1965)

6
Freedom of Press

• As American citizens, we are free to express
  ourselves in print or other media.
• Media includes radio, T.V., and computer networks
  (blogs)
• The government can not practice censorship, or
  ban printed materials or film because they
  contain offensive ideas
• Also are prohibited from banning information
  before it is published or broadcast.

7
Freedom of Press

• 1733, John Peter Zenger, publisher for the New
  York Weekly Journal was arrested and imprisoned
  for criticizing Gov. William Crosby (NY).
• Zengers lawyer argued that only a free press to
  criticize could prevent the government from
  abusing its power.
• There are some restrictions you can not publish
  materials that can harm a persons character or
  reputation if its based on fact, its fair game

8
Freedom of Assembly

• We may gather in groups for any reason, as long
  as the assemblies are peaceful.
• Government can make rules about when and where
  activities can be held but cannot ban them
  outright.
• We may freely join clubs, political parties,
  unions and other organizations as we wish.

9
Freedom of Petition

• We all have the right to petition the government
• We can express our ideas and complaints about
  government action
• Ex. Complain about the traffic situation on
  Brawley School Road.
• Get other like minded people to sign a petition
  (written request) to pressure leaders into action

10
Limits to the 1st Amendment

• The Supreme Court has decided that the 1st
  Amendment is not an absolute freedom and has to
  be limited in scope to protect safety and
  security.
• You may not say anything that may provoke a riot.
• You may not write or speak in a way that leads to
  criminal activities or any effort to overthrow
  the government

11
Limits to the 1st Amendment

• People should use civil liberties responsibly and
  not interfere with the rights of others. Ex. You
  are free to assemble but not in the middle of 150
• You may criticize government officials but you
  can not spread lies that can harm a persons
  reputation.
• Doing so is a crime called slander if lies are
  spoken, and libel if lies are printed.

12
Limits to the 1st Amendment

• The First Amendment was never intended to give
  people unlimited freedom or allow them to do
  whatever they want.
• The rights of one individual must be balanced
  against the rights of others and the community
• When there is a conflict, the rights of the
  community will always come first, or society
  would break apart.

13
Other Guarantees in the Bill of Rights Ch.4.2
Rights of the Accused

• The right to fair legal treatment is just as
  important to our civil liberties.
• Without these protections, government could
  ransack our homes, drag us to jail, and hold a
  trial without you responding to the charges.
• The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments prevent
  this from happening

14
The Fourth Amendment

• The fourth amendment protects us against
  unreasonable searches and seizures.
• Cannot search your home or property without
  probable cause.
• If police believe you have committed a crime,
  they can ask a judge for a search warrant court
  order allowing law enforcement officials to
  search a suspects home or business and take
  evidence.
• Ex. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

15
The Fifth Amendment

• The fifth amendment gives us protections in a few
  ways
• - states that no person can be put on trial for a
  serious federal crime without an indictment, a
  formal charge by a group of citizens called a
  grand jury, who review the evidence.
• An indictment does not mean guilt, but it
  indicates that the person may have committed a
  crime

16
The Fifth Amendment (cont.)

• protects a person from double jeopardy
• people can not be tried and judged for the same
  crime twice.
• Ex. O.J. could not be tried again in California
  for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and
  Ronald Goldman when he was acquitted the first
  time.

17
The Fifth Amendment (cont.)

• Protects the accused by giving them the right to
  remain silent
• Prevents authorities from threatening, torturing,
  or coercing people into a confession.
• Cannot force people to testify against themselves
  
• Protection against self-incrimination
• ex. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

18
The Fifth Amendment (cont.)

• States that no one may be denied life, liberty,
  or property without due process
• Must follow established legal procedures

19
The Fifth Amendment (cont.)

• Limits the governments power of eminent domain
  the right of the government to take private
  property for public use
• If your house lies in the way of a proposed
  government works project, government must give
  you fair price for it.
• Limits this process.

20
The Sixth Amendment

• Guarantees additional rights to people accused of
  crimes.
• - requires accused people to be told the charges
  against them (writ of habeas corpus)
• - requires that the accused be allowed a trial by
  jury, unless the accused chooses a judge instead
  (bench trial)

21
The Sixth Amendment (cont.)

• If the accused asks for a jury trial, it must be
  speedy and public, with jurors being impartial.
• If possible the trial should take place in the
  same area in which the crime took place.

22
The Sixth Amendment (cont.)

• The accused have the right to hear and question
  witnesses who testify against them.
• They also have the right to call witnesses in
  their own defense
• Accused people are entitled to a lawyer/counsel
• Supreme Court ruled that if a person can not
  afford a lawyer, the government must provide one
  and pay his/her fees ex. Gideon v. Wainwright
  (1963)

23
The Eighth Amendment

• The Eighth Amendment forbids any excessive bail
  and excessive fines
• Before trial, the accused may stay in jail or pay
  bail, a security deposit.
• Bail is returned if the person comes to court for
  trial it is forfeited if the person fails to
  appear.
• Bail must meet the severity of the crime judge
  weighs various factors of the individual

24
The Eighth Amendment (cont.)

• Also forbids any cruel and unusual punishment
• Many people disagree on what types of punishments
  are cruel and unusual but generally agree that
  punishment should be proportional to the crime
  committed.
• Ex. Furman v. Georgia (1972)

25
Other Protections within the Bill of Rights

• The 2nd amendment is often debated. Some believe
  it only allows states to keep an armed militia.
• Others believe it guarantees the right of all
  citizens to keep and bear arms.
• The courts have generally ruled that government
  can pass laws to control, but not prevent, the
  possession of weapons by individuals

26
The Third Amendment

• The 3rd Amendment states that soldiers may not
  move into private homes without the owners
  consent.
• Soldiers had done this in colonial times
• The government is responsible for quartering
  soldiers during war and during peacetime.

27
The Seventh Amendment

• The 7th amendment concerns civil cases lawsuits
  involving disagreements among people rather than
  crimes.
• Guarantees the right to a jury trial in civil
  cases involving more than 20. It does not
  require a jury trial however.

28
The Ninth Amendment

• The 9th Amendment states that citizens have other
  rights beyond those listed in the Constitution.
• Ex. peoples right to privacy this is not listed
  in the Constitution

29
The Tenth Amendment

• The 10th Amendment says that any powers the
  Constitution does not specifically give to the
  national government are reserved to the states or
  to the people.
• Prevents Congress and the President from becoming
  too strong
• They have only the powers the people give them.

30
Extending the Bill of Rights Ch. 4.3

• At first the Bill of Rights applied only to
  adult, white males.
• Also applied only to the national government and
  not to the states or local governments
• Later amendments and court rulings made the Bill
  of Rights apply to all people and level of
  governments

31
Civil War Amendments

• The 13th , 14th, and 15th Amendments are also
  known as the Civil War Amendments because they
  extended civil liberties to African-Americans
  during that time period
• 13th Amendment (1865) officially outlawed
  slavery, freeing thousands of African Americans

32
Civil War Amendments

• Even after freeing the slaves, this did not
  guarantee them full rights
• After the Civil War, many southern states passed
  black codes that excluded African Americans
  from certain jobs, limited property rights, and
  placed many restrictions on their lives.

33
Civil War Amendments

• The 14th Amendment (1868) remedied this situation
  by defining citizens as anyone born or
  naturalized in the United States which included
  African Americans
• Requires all states to grant citizens equal
  protection of the laws

34
Civil War Amendments

• Over the years this clause has been used to
  benefit women, the disabled, and other groups
  whose rights have not been protected fairly.
• The 14th amendment also nationalized the Bill of
  Rights by forbidding state governments from
  interfering with the rights of citizens.

35
Civil War Amendments

• The last of the Civil War amendments, the 15th
  amendment (1870) says that no state may take away
  a persons voting rights on the basis of race,
  color, or previous enslavement.
• The amendment was clearly intended to guarantee
  suffrage the right to vote to African
  Americans.
• Keep in mind, it applied only to men
• Various states had the power to decide whether
  women could vote. Still regardless of race,
  women could not vote in most federal or state
  elections

36
Later Amendments

• Gradually, the Bill of Rights came to cover all
  Americans equally and limited the power of
  government at all levels.
• Additional amendments would extend the rights of
  Americans to participate fully in the democratic
  process (voting rights)

37
The Seventeenth Amendment

• According to Article I of the Constitution, the
  people were to elect members of the House of
  Rep., but the state legislatures were to choose
  members of the Senate.
• Ratified in 1913, this amendment allowed voters
  to elect their senators directly.
• Gave Americans a greater voice in their government

38
The Nineteenth Amendment

• The Constitution did not grant nor deny women the
  right to vote.
• This decision was left for the states under the
  reserved powers granted to them by the 10th
  amendment.
• Some territories such as Wyoming allowed women to
  vote in 1869, national support for womens
  suffrage was slow.
• Womens suffrage movement started around 1848 in
  NY
• 19th Amendment (1920) established womens right
  to vote in all elections

39
The Twenty-third Amendment

• Because Washington, D.C. is a district and not a
  state, the people who lived there were not
  initially allowed to vote in national elections.
• 23rd amendment (1961) established that citizens
  of D.C. may vote for the President and Vice
  President, just as other Americans do.

40
The Twenty-fourth Amendment

• The 15th amendment gave African Americans the
  right to vote, but many had trouble exercising
  the right
• Many southern states had poll taxes, requiring
  voters to pay a sum of money before casting a
  ballot.
• This was a financial burden for African Americans
  and poor whites no pay, no vote.
• 24th Amendment (1964) made poll taxes illegal in
  national elections and then two years later, made
  them illegal in state elections

41
The Twenty-sixth Amendment

• Throughout history, a young man could fight and
  die for his country at the age of 18, but was
  unable to vote for leaders until the age of 21.
• Constitution does not state an age minimum, this
  was established by the states.
• 26th Amendment (1971) during the Vietnam War,
  Americans were guaranteed the right to vote at
  the age of 18.
• Lowered age minimum from 21 to 18.

42
The Civil Rights Struggle Ch. 4.4

• After the Civil War, African Americans routinely
  faced discrimination, or unfair treatment based
  on prejudice against a certain group.
• Jim Crow laws passed in the south required the
  social separation of the races which was known as
  segregation.
• It would take more than 100 years for African
  Americans to secure their civil rights the
  rights of full citizenship and equality under the
  law.

43
Separate but Equal

• Jim Crow laws had mandated the separate but
  equal status for blacks in America.
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

44
Beginning to Change

• Executive Order 9981 (1948) from President Harry
  Truman ordered an end to segregation in the
  nations armed forces.
• The biggest victory for equality of rights came
  with the decision in 1954.

45
Brown Decision

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS (1954)
• NAACP lawyers successfully argued that
  segregation in public schools was
  unconstitutional.
• It violated the 14th Amendments principle of
  equal protection under the law

46
Montgomery Bus Boycott

• In 1955, one year after the Brown decision, an
  African American woman named Rosa Parks was
  arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a
  white man.
• Arrested for violating Alabamas segregation laws.

47
Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Her arrest spurred the local African American
  community to organize a boycott of the
  Montgomery, AL bus system.
• A year later, Supreme Court ruled that public bus
  segregation was unconstitutional.
• Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gained
  national prominence from their actions

48
Peaceful Protests

• Dr. King was a Baptist minister and one of the
  main leaders of the civil rights movement.
• His ability to speak and his belief in
  non-violent resistance helped move the cause.
• King helped organize marches, boycotts, and
  demonstrations that opened people eyes to the
  treatment of blacks and that change was needed.

49
Peaceful Protests

• Students were known for staging sit-ins at
  lunch counters that served only whites
• African Americans and whites sympathetic to the
  cause were Freedom Riders who traveled together
  on buses to protest segregation
• Kings I Have a Dream Speech was and still is
  inspirational to those who hope for racial
  equality.

50
Civil Rights Act of 1964

• In response to the growing demand for government
  action, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of
  1964.
• This law prohibited discrimination in
• - public facilities
• - employment
• - education
• - voter registration

51
Civil Rights Act of 1964

• It banned discrimination by race, color, gender,
  religion, and national origin.
• Strengthened the 14th Amendment

52
Other Steps to Equality

• Ratification in 1964 of the 24th Amendment to
  protect African Americans when it came to
  registering and voting banned poll taxes in
  America.
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ensured all
  citizens the right to vote, regardless of race.

53
Affirmative Action

• In the 1970s, the federal government created
  programs that were intended to make up for past
  discrimination.
• These programs encouraged the hiring and
  promoting of minorities and women, and the
  admission of more minority students to colleges.

54
Affirmative Action

• From the beginning, affirmative action has been
  controversial.
• Critics complain that affirmative action programs
  give preferential treatment to women and
  minorities, amounting to discrimination against
  men and whites. reverse discrimination

55
Racial Profiling

• The struggle for equal rights continues today.
• Each year, the federal government receives more
  than 75,000 complaints of workplace
  discrimination.
• Many people are subject to racial profiling

56
Racial Profiling

• Racial profiling is being singled out as suspects
  because of the way they look.
• Some Americans are also victims of hate crimes
  acts of violence based on a persons race, color,
  national origin, gender, or disability.