Chapter SixEqual Rights

Instructor: Kevin SextonCourse: U.S. Political SystemsSoutheast Missouri State University

Equal Doesn’t Always Mean Equal

People sometime use the word EQUAL in ways that are misleading.

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When we talk about equality we are not talking about being “treated exactly the same.”

It is sometimes impossible, and not always prudent to treat all people “exactly the same.”

***********************************************************************IN FACT, IT IS SOMETIMES LEGAL TO DISCRIMINATE

Which is equal: 2 = 1.9999999999999999999

Or2 = 2

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Equal Doesn’t Always Mean Equal(Continued)

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, repeatedly that governmentdoes not have to treat everyone the same. Because there aresometimes situations that prevent treating everyone “exactlythe same (ie. Myself and Bill Clinton being charged with the samecrime).

To try and show when certain discriminatory practices/laws areConstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court has created three distinct

TESTS or STANDARDS.

REASONABLE-BASISINTERMEDIATE SCRUTINY

STRICT-SCRUTINY

Civil Rights versus Civil Liberties

Civil Rights

Are protections provided

BY the government.

Civil Liberties

Are protections provided

FROM the government

Civil Rights&

Equal Treatment

A more specific explanation of CIVIL RIGHTS is that CIVIL RIGHTS are the means by which theGovernment can ensure all people receive

“equal treatment under the law.”

Civil Rights Are Not Only The Rights Provided To African Americans

We will look primarily at the African American’s fight forCivil Rights because:

• They were the 1st to fight for their civil rights.

AND

• All other groups after them followed their example in their fight.

Civil Rights After The Civil War

Were All American Citizens Treated Equally Under The Law,Even After The Civil War?

NO!Black Codes were a perfect example of how the white

Majority continued to tyrannize the black minority.

Congress responded to the black codes with passage of the county’s first major Civil Rights legislation.

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866

“Equal Protection Clause”

In 1868 The 14th Amendment was passed.

As we know, the 14th Amendment declared that the STATES had To guarantee each citizen “due process of law,”

It also stated that the STATES has to provide each of it’sCitizens EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW.

The treatment of the freed slaves improved.But as we will see in the next slide, the improvements

were temporary.

Civil Rights During Reconstruction

Reconstruction: The Period After the Civil War when the Southern states were subject to a MILITARY OCCUPATION

by the Federal Army.

During this period of time, most whites were prevented from voting. For this reason many freedmen, freed slaves, were elected

to many offices, from mayor and other local offices, to the U.S. Congress.

This period, although it was very brief was the first time during U.S. history that African Americans had any true level of Equality.

These Civil Rights were short-lived!WHY?

The Election of 1876

No candidate got a majority of the votes in the ELECTORAL COLLEGE.Therefore Congress got to chose the president, from the top three vote getters.

The Republicans went to the Southern Democrats and promised to end reconstruction

IFThey supported Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency.

The Southern Democrats supported Hayes

AND Rutherford B. Hayes become president & the federal army was removed from the south.

The white majority regained much of the power over the freed slaves that theyenjoyed before the Civil War and the passage of the13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.

State Sponsored Discrimination

As the federal army left, all of the protection that it provided theFreed slaves also left.

The “equal protection clause” said all citizens needed to beTreated equally. What the southern states did was pass

A series of election laws that appeared to treat all citizensequally, but in fact prevented most if not all freed slaves from

voting.

Examples:Poll TaxGrandfather ClauseWhite Primaries

Jim Crow

Voting was not the only right of African Americans that was limited.African Americans were restricted in where they could:

Go To SchoolEatLive

Sit When On Public Transportation

The laws segregating the races were known asJIM CROW LAWS

How Could These Laws Survive?What About The 14th Amendment?

The states were not the only one that continued to holdprejudiced views of African Americans.

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down several veryImportant decisions in the late 1800s.

State Action Doctrine

&

Separate But Equal Doctrine

State Action Doctrine

1883 decision by the Supreme Court which stated thatOnly the actions of state and local governments must

Conform to the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.

Congress could tell the state and local governments that theyCould not discriminate against individuals, but Congress could

Not tell private individuals that they couldn’t discriminate.

Allowed discrimination in many forms to legally continue well Into the 1960s and 1970s.

Separate But Equal

Plessy v Ferguson, 1896

• 8 to 1 Supreme Court Vote

• As long as facilities are provided, it did not matter that the facilities were separate.

• Established the “Separate but Equal” doctrine.

THIS WOULD BE THE STANDARD FOR THENEXT 58 YEARS

Overcoming Plessy v Ferguson

In 1909 the civil rights organization, the National Association forThe Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded.

This would the primary group that carried out the movement that has come to be known as“The Civil Rights Movement.”

The NAACP made a decision, early in the movement to attempt to change the discrimination and prejudice by taking their case

to the Courts.

Why use the US Courts instead of Congress?

They chose to use the US Courts because:

They felt that the electoral strength of the African American was to small to make truly effective changes.

AND

It would be much easier to convince one level of the courts (US Supreme) of their position, than to try

And convince 48 state legislatures or evenThe two house of the US Congress

AndThe President of the United States

Brown v Board of Education

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)

• Unanimous Supreme Court Decision Which Reversed the “separate but equal doctrine”

• The decision of the Court based on the fact that the segregation created a sense of inferiority among black children.

Developed the concept that we operate by today.

Separate Is Inherently Unequal

Civil Rights After Brown

Did discrimination end with the Brown decision?

NO.

Why?

Federalism and the level of state and local control overelections and voting rights.

Over the next 15-20 years Congress would get involved inthe issues of voting and elections with the

passage of some key pieces of Civil Rights legislation.

Key Civil Rights Legislation

Civil Rights Act of 1957:• Established U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.• Made it a federal crime to prevent a person from voting.

Civil Rights Act of 1960:• Allowed the federal government to appoint “referees” to register voters denied the right to vote by a pattern or practice of discrimination.

Civil Rights Act of 1964:• Defined literacy as having a 6th grade education.• Barred discrimination on basis of color, race, religion, of nationality in most public businesses. • Barred discrimination for employment based on above reasons.• Established Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce employment discrimination rules.

Key Civil Rights Legislation(Continued)

Voting Rights Act of 1965:• allowed for appointment of voting examiners in place of local officials in all areas were less than 50% of eligible voters actually voted in the 1964 presidential election.• outlawed the use of literacy tests and other similar practices designed to prevent African Americans from voting.

Age Discrimination Act of 1967

Rehabilitation Act of 1973:• barred discrimination “solely” on the basis of disability.

Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988:• applied anti-sex discrimination standards to programs getting federal funds.

Discrimination is GONE?

De Jure discrimination is illegal.(government sponsored discrimination or segregation)

BUT

De Facto Discrimination CONTINUES.(discrimination or segregation based the decisions of

private individuals)

A shift in the Civil Rights Movement

There has been a shift in the focus of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States

The shift has been from

A focus on Equal Opportunity

to

A focus on Equal Outcome