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Ratified in 1788, the Constitution was rounded out with a Bill of Rights in 1791, and has defined our character as a nation to the present day.
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Throughout an expanding republic in the late 1820s and 1830s, the “common man” was finally having his say. Property qualifications for voting fell, and the electorate swelled to include almost all white men. The treatment of African Americans worsened. Women, too, were denied equal rights
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The emancipation of the slaves forced Americans to define citizenship and the rights that went with it. We took one step closer to creating that “more perfect Union” by adding three amendments to the Constitution to expand the ideals of liberty and equality upon which the country was built. One amendment banned slavery outright. Another granted former slaves citizenship and guaranteed equal protection of the laws. And another secured the vote for black men
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After World War II, America could not lay down the responsibilities it had shouldered in defense freedom. As America confronted communist aggression in Korea and elsewhere abroad, fears of communist influence at home disturbed domestic tranquility. Politicians launched investigations into communist influence in labor unions, the media, and the government, inquiries that soon threatened civil liberties
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Led by people such as the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s fought discrimination with non-violent determination, at lunch counters and colleges, on buses and at businesses. That success inspired women and other groups to demand equal opportunity. Growing awareness of inequality also led the Warren Court to dramatically alter the constitutional landscape in other areas.
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