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Dred Scott v Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri. After living in Illinois as a free man for a period of time, he moved back to Missouri claiming to be a freeman and a citizen. The court dismissed his claim, viewing him, a black man, as property over a person. In his case, the 1820 Missouri compromise was also ruled unconstitutional. -
15th Amendment
This amendment protected the right to vote among all citizens, no matter of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude -
14th Amendment
This amendment defined any person born on US soil as a citizen. It also protected citizens from having their rights infringed upon. They were subject to the “equal protection of the laws” and the idea of due process was established again. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment ended slavery throughout the US, outside of punishment for a properly convicted criminal. -
Plessy v Ferguson
This court case ruled that segregation laws established by the states were not in violation of the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause. This effectively unincorporated parts of the 14th amendment from the states and their citizens. This also ruled segregation as constitutional. -
19th Amendment
This amendment prohibited discriminating the right to vote on the basis of sex, allowing women to vote. -
White Primaries End
These were primary elections held in the southern states that only white voters could participate in. This practice was overturned in 1944 by Smith v Allwright, ending an aspect of segregation and discrimination. -
Brown v Board of Education
This court case ruled that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional under the protections of the 14th amendment. The ruling overturned the precedent set in Plessy v Ferguson and reincorporated the amendment to the states. -
Affirmative Action
This policy established the favoring of minority candidates whose people had been discriminated against in previous years. -
24th Amendment
This amendment protected citizens’ rights to vote in all elections, including now the Senate. The amendment also abolished the poll taxes, a fee levied on all/most citizens that were largely unfair. -
Poll Tax Ends
This policy set a fixed cost that was levied on all individuals without consideration for the financial situation of the person. The policy ended after the supreme court case of Harper v Virginia State. -
Civil Rights Act
This act prohibited the discrimination of all peoples on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin. The act expanded many liberties to millions of Americans, specifically minorities. They protected discrimination included both in public and in the workplace. -
Voting Rights Act
This act prohibited the discrimination against voters that many of the southern states had instated against minorities. Policies like Jim Crow laws or white primaries. -
Reed v Reed
The case involved two parents and the death of their son and who was to be named the admin of his estate. The law in Idaho established that the male should be preferred to the female. Sally reed challenged this in court. It was ruled that the law’s discriminatory nature violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, and incorporated it once again to the citizens and states. -
Equal Rights Amendment Passed in Congress
This amendment would guarantee the equal protection of all citizen’s rights regardless of sex or sexual orientation. This amendment would end legal distinctions between men and women in assorted situations. It has not been ratified to the constitution. -
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
This court case ruled the establishment of racial quotas in college admissions was unconstitutional. However, it also decided affirmative action was constitutional in some situations. -
Bowers v Hardwick
In this case, Hardwick was found participating in consensual homosexual sodomy with another man in the privacy of his own home. This act was in violation of the anti-sodomy laws in place in Georgia. The court ruled that there was no protection for such acts established by the constitution. This also set a precedent that the constitution did not protect any right to privacy. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act protects citizens with disabilities from being discriminated against on the basis of their disability. This applied to schools, jobs, and most other public and private situations. -
Lawrence v Texas
In a case similar to Bowers v Hardwick, two men were found having consensual intercourse, which violated the law of the state. However, the ruling from Bowers v Hardwick was overturned, ruling that the 14th amendment does protect citizens to engage in certain private conduct. This case also established a right to privacy, protected by the constitution to some extent. -
Obergefell v Hodges
This case ruled that by the 14th amendment, states are required to license a marriage between two people of the same sex. It also established that other states recognize such marriages.