Transcript Chapter 5 Political Parties
Chapter 21 Civil Rights: Equal Justice Under Law
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Objectives: – Understand what it means to live in a heterogeneous society.
– Summarize the history of race-based discrimination in the United States.
– Examine discrimination against women in the past and present.
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Why It Matters: – The Declaration of Independence declares that “all men are created equal,” but this nation still struggles to meet that ideal. Race-based and gender-based discrimination have declined in this country, but they certainly have not disappeared.
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Political Dictionary: – Heterogeneous – Immigrant – Reservation – Refugee – Assimilation
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • A Heterogeneous Society – A very “mixed” population.
– 1790 census: 3,929,214 • 4 out 5 were white – Influx of immigrants changed the mix.
– The birth rate of minorities was higher.
– Women outnumber men
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Race-Based Discrimination – African Americans • Second largest minority in the U.S.—37m. Or 12% • Residue of slavery and oppression • Constitutional guarantees—13 th , 14 th , & 15 th Amendments • Civil Rights Act of 1964—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Race-Based Discrimination (cont) – Native Americans • Once over 1m—decreased to 250k by 1900 • Disease • 2.7m today—1/3 on reservations • Poverty, joblessness, and alcoholism
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Race-Based Discrimination (cont) – Hispanic Americans (Latinos)—largest minority group • Complex group—white, mestizo, black/mulatto • Mexican Americans—18m (half of group) – Mostly in Southwest—”Chicanos” • Puerto Ricans—3m—in Northeast • Cuban Americans—1m—in South Florida • Central and South Americans—3m—”refugees” – Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, and the Dominican Republic
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Race-Based Discrimination (cont) – Asian Americans—11m—majority in Hawaii and 10% of California • Discrimination—difficult “assimilation” • Chinese were first in the 1850s and 1860s • Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882—blocked Asian emigration for 80 years • Japanese internment in World War II—120k • 4m have come since revised immigration act in 1965
Section 1—Diversity and Discrimination in American Society • Discrimination Against Women – Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 – Under-representation in lawmaking – Equal Pay Act of 1963 – Civil Rights Act of 1964 – 80% of male pay for same job and qualifications.
– Equal Rights Amendment to Constitution failed
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Objectives: – Explain the importance of the Equal Protection Clause.
– Describe the history of segregation in America.
– Examine how classification by sex relates to discrimination.
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Why It Matters: – The law includes safeguards to protect Americans from unfair discrimination on the basis of race or sex. The most important protections lie in the 5 th and 14 th amendments and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Political Dictionary: – Segregation – Jim Crow law – Separate-but-equal doctrine – Integration – de jure segregation – de facto segregation
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Equal Protection Clause – Equality ideas of the Declaration were not literal in the Constitution but implied.
– 14 th and 5 th amendments extend the language – Classification of citizens is permitted but must be “reasonable”
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Equal Protection Clause (cont) – The Rational Basis Test • “Does the classification in question bear a reasonable relationship to the achievement of some proper governmental purpose?” – Mark Foley’s e-mails?
– Adult relationships with minors?
– The Strict Scrutiny Test • A higher standard for some equal protection cases.
– Travel between states, right to vote, etc.
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Segregation in America – Jim Crow Laws started in the 1880s – Separate-but-Equal Doctrine • Plessy v. Ferguson—1896 in Louisiana—seating in rail coaches • Brown v. Board of Education—1954—unanimous Court ruling reversed Plessy – Massive resistance to block “integration” – Pace increased after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education— 1969—ended toleration of the slow pace of integration.
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Segregation in America (cont) – De Jure, De Facto Segregation • De Jure means “lawful”—any laws perpetuating segregation were swept away.
• De Facto—means “without law” – School district lines---busing – Segregation in Other Fields also ended • Prisons, swimming pools, recreation facilities, interracial marriages, child custody, transportation, etc.
Section 2—Equality Before the Law
• Classification by Sex – Gender laws and interpretations have changed dramatically over time. Few instances remain where discrimination is permitted.
– One major area is the all-male military draft.
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Objectives: – Outline the history of civil rights legislation from Reconstruction to today.
– Explore the issues surrounding affirmative action.
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Why It Matters: – Little more than a generation ago, race based discrimination was not only widespread in this country, much of it was legal—and evidences of that fact are with us yet today.
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Political Dictionary: – Affirmative action – Quota – Reverse discrimination
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Civil Rights: Reconstruction to Today – 13 th Amendment in 1865 freed slaves – 14 citizenship/due process under law – 15 th th Amendment in 1868 gave Amendment in 1869 gave the former slaves the right to vote.
– No power to enforce the amendments – No other major civil rights laws were passed until the 1950s
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Civil Rights: Reconstruction to Today (cont) – Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968 – Voting Rights Acts of 1965, 1970, 1975, and 1982 • Extended for 25 years in 2006
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Civil Rights: Reconstruction to Today (cont) – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 • 83 days of debate • 1. No person may be denied access to or refused service in various “public accommodations” because of race, color, religion, or national origin (Title II).
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Civil Rights: Reconstruction to Today (cont) – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 • 2. prohibit discrimination against any person on grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or physical disability in any program which receives federal funds to any program that practices such discrimination (Title VI).
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Civil Rights: Reconstruction to Today (cont) – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 • 3. forbid employers and labor unions to discriminate against any person on grounds of race, color, religion, sex, physical disability, or age in job-related matters (Title VII).
• The Civil Rights Act of 1968--housing
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Protected Classes: – Race – Ethnicity – Religion or sect – Color – National Origin – Age (40 and over) – Sex – Sexual Orientation – Disability Status – Veteran Status – Gender – Political Affiliation
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Affirmative Action – Controversial – Often used “quotas” – Reverse Discrimination • Should the Constitution be “color blind?” • Regents of the University of California v.
Bakke
– Race may be used as a factor but not the “only” factor in making affirmative action decisions
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Affirmative Action (cont) – Later cases—mixed rulings • “minority set-asides” are sometimes part of laws and have been upheld.
• Sandra Day O’Connor—”The Constitution protects persons, not groups . . .” – The Michigan cases • Broad rules “may” include affirmative action • Cases must be reviewed individually
Section 3—Federal Civil Rights Laws
• Affirmative Action on the Ballot – 1996--Proposition 209 in California outlawed affirmative action—challenged in court but upheld.
– 1998—the State of Washington also enacted a measure to outlaw affirmative action.
Section 4—American Citizenship
• Objectives: – Identify the questions surrounding American citizenship.
– Describe how people become American citizens by birth and by naturalization.
– Explain how an American can lose his or her citizenship.
– Illustrate how the United States is a nation of immigrants.
– Compare and contrast the status of undocumented aliens and legal immigrants
Section 4—American Citizenship
• Why It Matters: – A person can become an American citizen either at birth or through the process of naturalization. As immigration to the United States has surged over the past few decades, record numbers of immigrants have become American citizens.
Section 4—American Citizenship
• Political Dictionary: – Citizen – jus soli – jus sanguinis – Naturalization – Alien – Expatriation – Denaturalization – Deportation
Section 4—American Citizenship
• The Question of Citizenship – Unclear in the Constitution it was clarified by the 14 th Amendment in 1866.
– Citizenship by Birth • jus soli or “law of the soil” – 50 states, territories, embassies, American vessels – Until 1924 it excluded Native Americans on reservations.
• jus sanguinis or “law of blood” – One or more parents who are citizens
Section 4—American Citizenship
• Citizenship by Naturalization – 800,000 aliens each year – Learn about America—be investigated— take an oath in open court.
– Collective Naturalization • 1868-14 th Amendment • To entire states or territories
Section 4—American Citizenship
• Loss of Citizenship – Expatriation—can be voluntary but not compelled (some rights can be lost if you go to prison) – Naturalized citizens can be “denaturalized”—after fraud or deception – Marriage to a citizen does not guarantee citizenship—it only speeds the process.
Section 4—American Citizenship
• A Nation of Immigrants – 70m since 1820 – Regulation of Immigration • A federal—not state--function • Not much regulation until 1890 • Immigrant source shifted to southern and eastern Europe • Chinese (and other undesirables) Exclusion Act of 1882 • Quotas were established in the 1920s
Section 4—American Citizenship
• A Nation of Immigrants (cont) – Present Immigration Policies • 675,000 allowed each year • Family preference favors 1/3 of them • Valuable occupational talents are favored • 20 million nonimmigrants come for temporary stays (students, tourists, etc.)
Section 4—American Citizenship
• A Nation of Immigrants (cont) – Deportation—applies to aliens • Illegal entry • Conviction of a serious crime • A civil and not a criminal action---therefore constitutional safeguards do not apply—bail and ex post facto laws.
Section 4—American Citizenship
• Undocumented Aliens – Maybe 12 million today—largest number from Mexico – A Troublesome Situation • Necessary workers in agriculture and as laborers in less attractive work.
– Current Law • 1986 amnesty—2 million became citizens • Employers can be fined for hiring aliens • The question of public benefits???