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Drett Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott filed a lawsuit in Missouri courts for his freedom, citing that he had lived as a slave in a free state for a decade. The Missouri court decided that he was still a slave because property does not change hands by crossing state lines. After taking the case, the Supreme Court ruled that parts of the Missouri Compromise were unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment because slaves were considered property and could not legally be taken from slave owners without fair compensation. -
13th Amendment
This amendment to the Constitution was ratified shortly after the end of the Civil War. The amendment officially ended the legal practice of slavery and forced servitude in the United States, with the exception of being a punishment for a crime. This amendment did nothing to secure rights for former slaves, however. -
14th Amendment
This amendment to the Constitution was ratified shortly after the end of the Civil War. This amendment stated that every citizen of the United States (meaning just men at the time of ratification) had the same rights that could not be infringed upon without due process. It also spells out that people who had been in rebellion with the United States or had committed another crime could lose their right to representation and the right to hold office at the federal level. -
15th Amendment
This amendment to the Constitution was ratified shortly after the end of the Civil War. The amendment states that the right to vote cannot be restricted based on race, color, or being a former slave. This is the first instance of civil rights being upheld for non-white males in the Constitution. -
Poll Taxes
Poll taxes were created as a way to restrict African Americans from voting in a way that did not violate the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. Former slaves typically had very little, if any, money to spare on anything besides basic necessities, which meant they could not pay these extra fees at poll booths. There is also evidence of these poll taxes disproportionately not being applied to white voters, which speaks to the racial motivations that poll taxes were created from. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Louisiana enacted the Separate Car Act, which required that railroads have separate train cars to separate blacks and whites. Plessy, who was seven-eighths white, decided to protest this law by sitting in the whites-only car. As was expected, he was promptly arrested and the case made its way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Louisana's law, reasoning that segregation did not necessarily mean unequal. -
White Primaries
White primaries were Southern primary elections that only white voters were allowed to participate in. They were mainly instituted by the Democratic Party in each state, which usually controlled the state government as well. Since the Democratic Party usually won the general election, the act of created white-only primaries essentially disenfranchised black voters by removing the impact of their vote. -
19th Amendment
This amendment guaranteed the right to vote could not be infringed on account, allowing women to vote in every election on the state and federal levels. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This case in the Supreme Court was a combination of smaller cases around the country relating to segregation in schools. It was argued that active segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled against the previous decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, famously stating that "separate but equal" facilities are inherently unequal. -
24th Amendment
This amendment made poll taxes illegal to impose on any citizens of the United States. The amendment broadens the concept further in saying that the right to vote cannot be restricted for any citizen because of the failure to pay any kind of tax. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The main purpose of this legislation was to outlaw discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, and national origin. It also prohibits unequal application of voter requirements, racial segregation in public and all other public accommodations, and employment discrimination. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is any action by the government or private institutions made for the purpose of ending and correcting the impacts of discrimination. This concept can be seen in places like outreach campaigns and targeted employment. This idea came to be relevant around the time that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The main purpose of this act was to secure the right to vote for citizens who are a part of racial minorities, especially in the South. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the Constitution that ensured that rights could not be violated on account of sex. This amendment was not ratified when it first had widespread public support in the 1970s. -
Reed v. Reed
Idaho state law stated that men must be preferred to women when assigning an administrator to an estate. The issue of the constitutionality of this law was called into question when two separated parents vied for being the administrator of their deceased adopted son's land. The case made it all the way to Supreme Court, where they ruled that the law was unconstitutional because it violate the Equal Protections Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Allan Bakke was rejected twice from the University of California despite having academic merits that were well beyond any of the students that were accepted because they were a part of racial minorities. The case made its way up to the Supreme Court, who took it as an issue relating to the prominence affirmative action should have in education. They ruled that racial quotas are not what are intended but instead giving some preference to racial minorities, and made the college accept Bakke. -
Bowers v Hardwick
Georgia law made the act of engaging in homosexual activities illegal. Hardwick was observed engaging in these actions with another man by a police officer, who arrested him for committing that crime. The case made its way up to the Supreme Court, where it was treated as a question of whether or not there was a constitutional right to engage in homosexual practices. The Supreme Court ruled that there was not, so states could make these practices illegal within their borders. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This legislation outlaws discrimination based on disability. It has many of the same provisions as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does. It specifically requires certain employers to provide reasonable accommodations for handicapped employees and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations. -
Motor Voter Act
This legislation required state governments to provide easier voter registration processes for any eligible person who applies for or renews a driver's license. This law made it easier to register to vote, and not have to navigate an overly complex process that not everyone would be able to reasonably complete. -
Lawrence v Texas
This case has the same basic premise as Bowers v Hardwick from 1986. Two men were seen engaging in homosexual behavior in their own home by Texas police, where this activity was criminalized. They were arrested, and the criminal case made its way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the Texas law did not violate the Equal Protections Clause, but that the men had the right to participate in this behavior in their own home, which overturned Bowers v Hardwick. -
Obergefell v Hodges
This case was treated as a culmination of several cases across the country relating to the licensing and recognition of marriages between same-sex couples. All but one of the federal circuit courts ruled that marriage licenses had to be provided and that they must be recognized across state lines. The one case that was different was brought to the Supreme Court, which ruled in support of the majority of the federal circuit courts under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.