AP GOVERNMENT

1. Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy AP GOVERNMENT

2. The phrase “all men are created equal” is part of the Declaration of Independence. The phrase is at the heart of American political culture; yet implementing this principle has proved to be one of our nation’s most enduring struggles.

3. Throughout our history, issues involving African-Americans, women, and other minorities have raised constitutional questions about slavery, segregation, equal pay, and a host of other issues.

4. The rallying cry has been civil rights, which are policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.

5. The resulting controversies have been fought in the courts, Congress, and the bureaucracy, but the meaning of equality remains as elusive as it is divisive.

6. Today’s equality debates center on these types of inequality in America: • Racial discrimination. • Gender discrimination. • Discrimination based on age, disability, sexual orientation, and other factors.

7. The struggle for equality has been a persistent theme in our nation’s history. Racial Equality: two centuries of struggle

8. Slaves sought freedom, free African-Americans fought for the right to vote and to be treated as equals, women pursued equal participation in society, and the economically disadvantaged called for better treatment and economic opportunities.

9. This fight for equality affects all Americans.

10. Philosophically, the struggle involves defining the term equality.

11. Constitutionally, it involves interpreting laws.

12. Politically, it often involves power.

13. What does equality mean? Conceptions of equality

14. Jefferson’s statement in the Declaration of Independence that “all me are created equal” did not mean that there were no differences among human beings.

15. Jefferson insisted throughout his life that African Americans were genetically inferior to whites.

16. The Declaration went on to speak, however, of “inalienable rights” to which all were equally entitled.

17. A belief in equal rights has often led to a belief in equality of opportunity; in other words, everyone should have the same chance.

18. What individuals make of that chance depends on their abilities and efforts.

19. American society does not emphasize equal results or equal rewards; few Americans argue that everyone should earn the same salary or have the same amount of property.

20. Few colonists were eager to defend slavery. Early american views of equality

21. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention did their best to avoid facing the tension between slavery and the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

22. Women’s rights got even less attention than slavery at the Convention.

23. Perhaps the presence of conflicting views of equality in 18th century America explains why the word equality does not appear in the original Constitution. The constitution and inequality

24. In addition, America in 1787 was a far different place from contemporary America, with far different values.

25. The privileged delegates to the Constitutional Convention would have been baffled, if not appalled, at the discussions of equal rights for 12 year olds, deaf students, gay soldiers, or female road dispatchers.

26. The delegates created a plan for government, not guarantees of individual rights.

27. Not even the Bill of Rights mentions equality.

28. It does, however, have implications for equality in that it does not limit the scope of its guarantees to specified groups within society.

29. The First Amendment guarantees of freedom of expression, in particular, are important because they allow those who are discriminated against to work toward achieving equality.

30. This kind of political activism, for instance, led to the constitutional amendment that enacted a guarantee of equality, the 14th Amendment.

31. The first and only place in which the idea of equality appears in the Constitution is in the 14th Amendment, one of the three amendments passed after the Civil War.

32. The 14th Amendment states, “ No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

33. Equal protection of the laws: part of the 14th Amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent “protection” to all people.

34. Those five words represent the only reference to the idea of equality in the entire Constitution, yet within them was enough force to begin ensuring equal rights for all Americans.

35. The full force of the amendment was not felt for nearly 100 years, for it was not until the mid-twentieth century that the 14th Amendment was used as an instrument for unshackling disadvantaged groups.

36. Once dismissed as “the traditional last resort of constitutional arguments,” the equal protection clause now has few rivals in generating legal business for the Supreme Court.

37. But what does equal protection of the laws mean?

38. The 14th Amendment does not say that “states must treat everybody exactly alike,” or that “every state must promote equality among all its people.”

39. Presumably, it means, as one member of Congress said during the debate on the amendment, ”equal protection of life, liberty, and property” for all.

40. Thus, a state cannot confiscate an African American’s property under the law while letting Whites keep theirs, or otherwise give Whites privileges denied to African Americans.

41. Some members of Congress interpreted the clause to be a much more lavish protection of rights than this interpretation.

42. Over the last 100 years, however, the equal protection clause has become the vehicle for more expansive constitutional interpretations.

43. In order to determine whether a particular form of discrimination is permissible, the Supreme Court developed three levels of scrutiny, or analysis, called standards of review.

44. The Court has rule that most classifications that are reasonable-that bear a rational relationship to some legitimate governmental purpose-are constitutional.

45. The person who challenges these classifications has the burden of proving that they are arbitrary.

46. A classification that is arbitrary-a law singling out, say, people with red hair or blue eyes for inferior treatment-is invalid

47. The Court has also ruled that racial and ethnic classifications are inherently suspect.

48. These classifications are presumed to be invalid and are upheld only if they serve a “compelling public interest” and there is no other way to accomplish the purpose of the law.

49. In this case, the burden of proof is on the state.

50. Classifications by race and ethnicity, such as for college admissions, may be acceptable if they are made in laws seeking to remedy previous discrimination.