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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri, but moved to Illinois for a period of time. Due to the Missouri Compromise, slavery was outlawed in Illinois. Upon his return to Missouri, Dred Scott filed a case, claiming his rights were abused because he was enslaved in a free territory. Dred Scott's master, Sandford, argued that enslaved people are property and not protected by the same rights. The Supreme Court decided 7-2 in favor of Sandford. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment was passed in the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. This amendment completely abolished slavery and indentured servitude in the United States. The amendment passed in the House with a 1119-56 majority. A similar piece of legislation, the Emancipation Proclamation, only freed slaves in Confederate States. The 13th amendment standardized the freedom of slaves for all US states. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to all people born on US soil, and guaranteed the equal protection under the law. This was originally done to provide citizenship and rights to the newly freed slaves, but nowadays is used more concerning the immigration issue. A 2/3rds majority of the states ratified this amendment, with Louisiana and South Carolina being the last 2 to do so. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment gave African American men the right to vote. However, due to racist practices by many Southern states that right was effectively useless with poll taxes and literacy tests. It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that African American men were truly given the right to vote. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes took place in the late 1880s in Southern States in protest to the 15th amendment. At that time, many of the disenfranchised slaves were living in poverty and could not afford to pay the poll tax to vote. It was not until the 24th amendment that poll taxes were officially outlawed. -
White Primaries
White primaries were primary elections in which only white people were allowed to vote. Most white primaries were instated in the 1890s, but lasted for a significant amount of time. Once again this came in response to the 15th amendment, and was outlawed with the 24th amendment. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was deiced in 1896. It stated that racial segregation was constitutional. This decision became know as "separate but equal". This came during Reconstruction after the Civil War, when the Northern states were trying to reintroduce the Southern states. This Supreme Court decision became a landmark case, as it showed the the Untied States was not yet ready to give African Americans equal rights. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. At that time. most women did not have the right to vote and this enfranchised them. This really only applied to white women, and black women would not receive it more many more years. -
Brown v. the Board of Education
Brown v. the Board of Education ruled that separate school for Black and White children was unconstitutional. After Brown v. the Board of Education was passed there was a large amount of backlash in the Southern states. As these white families did not want their children going to school was African American children -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action Law states that employers look at minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and veterans for hire. JFK stated that employers could "not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin". This was all happening in part with the civil rights movement during the 1960's. -
The24th Amendment
The 24th amendment gave any citizen the right to vote without restrictions, like a poll taxes or literacy tests. This was done to battle Jim Crow laws that were popular in the South at the time. Due to this law, African Americans were truly given the right to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevented discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, or religion. The prevented many of the "Jim Crow Laws" that Southern states had enacted to discriminate against black people. The Senate voted 73-27 in favor of the bill, and Johnson signed it into law on July 2, 1964. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
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Reed v. Reed
Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. In Idaho there was a law saying that "males must be preferred to females" when it came to money a loved one left for them. The court all agreed that this law in Idaho was unconstitutional, on the fact that inheritance cant be based off of sex. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment, was proposed to the constitution based off the the idea that one could not discriminate against a person based off their sex. This Amendment came along with the growing feminist movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's. In 1972 the amendment was passed to the states for ratification. Yet because of the growing conservative party, the ERA amendment fell short of the 38 states needed to pass the amendment. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke decided that racial quotas were unconstitutional. Bakke had applied and got rejected twice because the university needed to meet the racial quota.The University of California Medical School at Davis reserved 16 out of the 100 spots for people of a racial minority.The decision was 8-1 in favor of Bakke stating that the racial quotas that the the University of California had violated the Civil Right Act of 1964. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Micheal Hardwick was caught by a police officer having same sex relations with another man. At the time, in Georgia these actions were illegal and Hardwick was charged with a crime. Georgia's Attorney General ( Bowers) appealed to the Supreme Court. The supreme Court ruled 5-4 for Bowers. Stating that the Supreme Court has the power to protect rights not easily identifiable in the Constitution. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 prohibits discrimination based on a disability. President George H.W. Bush signed The Americans with Disabilities Act into United State law. The act requires the owners of buildings to make everything wheel chair accessible. -
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence was found partaking in same sex relations with another man. Lawrence was found committing a crime as in 2003 the state of Texas had Laws against same sex relations. The supreme court decided 6-3 for Lawrence, stating that the Texas law violated the Due Process of the first amendment. They also said they were adults who could make their own choices in privacy.
