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Dred Scott v. Sandford
The supreme court held that slaves were property and could not be taken from their masters because that would violate the constitution. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment banned slavery in the united states. It was the first of the reconstruction amendments which were designed to help African Americans after the civil war -
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment established African Americans as citizens of the United States. It also includes the due process clause and equal protection clause. -
15th Amendment
The government can not deny the right to vote based on race or color. The goal of this amendment was to allow African Americans to vote. -
Plessy vs. Fergusson
Established a concept known as separate but equal for segregation laws of the time. The court ruled that a law that said white and people had to ride in different cars did not violate the 14th amendment. This made segregation easier to implement. -
19th Amendment
This amendment says that the right to vote can not be restricted based on sex which gave women the right to vote -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment was first proposed in 1923 guarantees the equality of all people under the law regardless of gender. The amendment was not approved however at this point it has been approved by 3/4 of the states it just has not been officially added to the constitution. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This case overruled Plessy v Fergusson and ruled that separate but equal schools can't possibly be equal. This got rid of the separate but equal doctrine and forced schools to integrate. -
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment eliminates the poll tax for voters. This is meant to make voting more available to people with lower income who were unable to vote because they couldn't afford it. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act banned discrimination based on race, religion, sex or ethnicity. -
Voting Rights act of 1965
Outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been place in many states after the civil war. This act banned things like literacy tests and grandfather clauses. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action is a set of government benefits meant to address past wrongs. There have been many different methods of implementation with varied results and it is a controversial topic today. -
Title IX
This law prohibits discrimination based on sex at any school that receives federal funding. This law allows there to be an equal number of girls and boys sports at a public school and both teams use the same facility. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
The justices ruled that any racial quota system violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but using race as one of several factors in the admissions process did not violate the constitution. -
Bowers vs. Hardwick
The court said that there was no constitutional protection for acts of sodomy. The court said that states could outlaw this practice because it was not easily identifiable in the constitution. -
Americans with Disabilities Act.
This law prohibits any kind of discrimination based on disability. It also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to those with disabilities as well as setting standards for accessibility of public places. -
Voter ID laws
Voter ID laws are meant to prevent fraud during elections. They have caused controversy in recent years because some people think they are meant to exclude poorer voters -
Shelby County vs. Holder
The court ruled that section 4 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. The court said that its restrictions are no longer needed in current districts where they are being imposed. -
Obergefell vs. Hodges
The court held that the 14th amendment did protect peoples right to marry who they wanted regardless of sex. The court ruled that marriage was a fundamental liberty that should not be restricted