Constitution: The Law of the Land

FocusThe Amendments allow people to change

the Constitution to meet current needs

Abolishing SlaverySlavery and the Framers

Southerners thought their farming economics would fail without slaves

Framers had to eliminate abolishing slavery so both north and south states would ratify the constitution

Framers agreed on the 3/5 compromise and it made it so slaves were returned to owners and count as 3/5 of a person for representation

Tension between North and SouthCompeted for power of CongressNorth was more populous and South

counted slaves1820 Missouri Compromise: divided new

lands into “slave territories and “free” Territories

2 sides: for slavery vs. anti-slavery

Controversy in the courts1857, Dred Scott DecisionScott and owner traveled from Missouri to

IL and WIMoved back to MissouriScott said he was free because he made

residence in WI (free territory)Court ruled that Constitution said slaves

were property and had to be returned to owners

13th Amendment1858, Lincoln warned US couldn’t be half

slave and half free…all or nothingCivil war took 600,000 livesAbolished slavery in 1865

African Americans and votingStates still had the power to decide who

could be a citizenBoth north and South denied citizenship to

blacks

14th Amendment1868, gave citizenship to African Americans“ All persons born or naturalized in US…are

citizens of the US and of the state wherein they reside.”

No state can deprive person of life, liberty , property without due process of law

Didn’t prevent private citizens from mistreating African Americans

15th and 24th Amendment15th: 1870, states may not deny the vote to

anyone on race or color24th: 1964, poll taxes are declared illegal

Women and the right to VoteTraditional Ideas about women

Expected to stay at home1800’s women started to work in factories:

many believed that they were unable to handle those jobs

Thought women were being irresponsible to families

Thought women were less intelligent than men

Challenging traditional ViewWomen in the work force increasedOmen became active in Political issuesInsisted on right to vote (suffrage)1848, Seneca Falls women’s conventionGained attention due to marches,

speeches, writing in newspapersFrom 1878 to 1918 proposed the right to

vote, but failed each time

19th Amendment1918 House approved amendment1919 Senate approves1920 Ratified by states

Youth and the right to voteFrom colonial through mid 1900’s voting

age was 21Wars fought made people believe that if

you could fight and die for your country you should be allowed to vote

1970 law allows 18 year old to vote (only national levels)

26th Amendment in 1971 passed and voting age is 18 at all levels

A Flexible FrameworkConstitution provides general guidelines,

not specifics

Equality and SegregationPlessy vs. Ferguson (1896)Many states, after 14th amendment, required

segregation (separation of blacks and whites)Homer Plessy refused to leave a “whites only”

railroad car. He said law requiring segregation violated right to equal protection

Court ruled that law did not violate as long as black and white train cars were of equal quality

“separate but equal” accepted for 50 years

Opposition to Segregation Many schools and other places were not as

good for blacks as for whitesEven when equal quality many felt that

blacks were being treated as inferior. 1950 Thurgood Marshall, lawyer for NAACP

brought to the Supreme Court cases that involved unequal segregation

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)Linda Brown (black girl) lived 7 blacks from white

school. She was required to travel 21 blocks to go to her all black school

Linda’s parents wanted her to attend the closer school. Her parents took the school to court

Thurgood Marshall said separate school are harmful for both black and white kids. Black kids felt inferior and white kids felt superior. Separate but equal not equal

Supreme Court ruled separate schools were “inherently unequal”

Brown v. Board overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and made all segregation laws unconstitutional

Equality and Affirmative Action1960’s Civil Rights laws-guards against

racial discriminationLaws can’t change years of racial

discriminationGovernment began to correct years of

unfair hiring practices Affirmative Action = steps to counteract

effects of past racial discrimination and discrimination against women

Regents of the Univ of CA v. BakkeUC Medical School Reserved places in each class for

African Americans, Hispanic, and Native American Students

In 1973 and 1974 white student rejected admittance even though he had higher grades than others

Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny admittance because of race

Race could be a factor if the school wished to create a more diverse student body, but couldn’t discriminate from whites

CA law 209 forbid state universities and employers from considering race or ethnicity

Women and EqualityPhillips v. martin Marietta Corporation

(1971)Phillips, female, denied job because she

had small children (asked this question on application)

She took to court because she hadn’t been treated equally because men were not questioned about their kids

Court rules that you couldn’t have one hiring policy for men and another for women