Governmental Change

• Benchmark: Analyze ways in which people achieve governmental change including political action, social protest, and revolution.

• Methods of Effecting Governmental Change

• Dissent and Civil Disobedience

• This benchmark requires you to know the ways in which people achieve governmental change--whether through political action, social protest, or revolution. Apolitical parties, interest groups, lobbyists, the media, and public opinion have all helped to shape governmental policy. You should be able to analyze how change occurred in the following topics: extension of suffrage, labor legislation, civil rights legislation, military policy, environmental legislation, business regulation, and educational policy. You should also be able to discuss civil disobedience and how it differs from other forms of dissent. You sho0uld be able to describe examples of the various means of bringing about governmental change when discussing the women’s suffrage movement of the late 1800’s, the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, and student protests during the Vietnam War.

I. Methods of Effecting Governmental

ChangePeople can change the gov. in

many ways:1. Most extreme: revolution!

a. US had revolution vs. Britain!2. Political process--change or create new laws3. Social protest

Revolution Social Protest

Political Action

This is the overthrow of a government, usually by violent means

This form of dissent can be legal, but it may take the form of civil disobedience, in which case it is illegal. Protest can be either violent or nonviolent.

This method of changing government policy works within the system. It is nonviolent and usually socially acceptable.

Methods used to change the government

A. Method of Gov. Change #1: Political

Action• 1. Uses the processes within a gov. to get change

• 2. Ex: Congress passes a new law or amends an old law

B. Method of Gov. Change #2: Political

Parties• 1. Political party: an organization whose chief purpose is to elect its members to office

• 2. Most party members have the same ideas about gov.

• 3. If that political party wins elections, that party can run gov. according to their ideas

C. Method of Gov. Change #3: Interest

Groups• 1. Interest group: organizations whose members share similar views and attempt to influence public policy

• 2. Ex: NOW , AIM, UFW and NAACP• 3. These groups work to change gov. policy

• 4. They raise money and contribute to the political campaigns of candidates who support their issues

• 5. Also get gov. to change by raising awareness of their groups interest

Issue Interest or Political Action Group

Activities Used to Achieve Goals

Result or Change

Extension of suffrage

NOW Public awareness campaigns; lobbying Congress; dissent; civil disobedience

19th Amendment; Equal Pay Act (1963); Title VII (1964); ERA passed in Congress (not passed by states)

Labor Extension Unions; Knights of Labor; AFL-CIO

Lobbying Congress; strikes; public awareness campaigns; dissent; civil disobedience

National Labor Relations Act (1935), Fair Labor Standards Act (1938), established collective bargaining rights, gave unions more power

Civil Rights Legislation

NAACP, National Urban League; Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Lobbying Congress; public awareness campaigns; court suits; dissent; civil disobedience

Civil Rights Act of 1964; Civil Rights Act of 1991; Voting Rights Act of 1965; Brown decision (1954); end of segregated schools

Military policy Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW; antiwar activists

Lobbying Congress; protests; dissent; civil disobedience

Eventual withdrawal of troops from Vietnam; abolition of military draft.

Environmental legislation

Greenpeace; Sierra Club; Environmental Defense Fund; environment activists

Public awareness campaigns; lobbying Congress; dissent; civil disobedience

Clean Air Act (1963), Clean Water Act (1972); Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)

Business regulation Business associations; Progressive reformers

Lobbying; PACs to influence congressional legislation

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890); Clayton Antitrust Act !1914)

Interest Groups and Their Accomplishments

D. Method of Gov. Change #4: Lobbyists

• 1. Interest groups hire lobbyists

• 2. They speak with gov. leaders to try to get them to change gov. policy or laws

Short Answer

• What are the main goals of interest groups, and what activities do they engage in to achieve their goals.

II. Dissent and Civil Disobedience

• At times, people intensely disagree with US gov.

• They try political means to get change

• Lobbying, public awareness campaigns, political action sometimes do NOT work

• SO……….– Dissent and civil disobedience used– Civil disobedience is more extreme than dissent

Dissent

• Dissent: intense disagreement with authority (usually the gov.) and often involves some kind of protest action or organized movement

• Examples– 1. Anti-Vietnam War protestors in the 1970’s– 2. Civil rights activists in the 1960’s

*dissent includes marches, staged protests with speakers, picketing, boycotts, and public awareness campaigns

*violence or run-ins with the police are common

Example #1: Women’s Suffrage

• 1. Beginning:– A. mid-1880’s– B. Women worked hard to abolish slavery, and at same time began looking at their own inequalities

– C. Women’s inequalities included• Denied equal education• Forced to put property in husband’s name• If divorced: men kept the kids if they wanted

• 2. First activists– A. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton•Public awareness campaigns•July 1848: conference at Seneca Falls, NY

•“The Declaration of the Rights and Sentiments”

•They demanded women get equality AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE!!!!!!!!!

• 3. Early achievement– A. Married Women’s Property Law (1860)

– B. Gave women many rights, including right to own property

– C. Still did NOT have the right to vote

• 4. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (another suffragist) – A. Form National woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)

– B. Began civil disobedience– C. Presidential election of 1872:

• Anthony and others vote• They wanted to test the interpretation of the 14th Amendment

• They were arrested• Made to pay fine• Anthony refused to pay (the judge never sentenced her to prison, but told her to eventually pay the fine)

• 5. More success– A. New western states (Ex: Wyoming) allowed women to vote

– B. Suffragist groups began to use more militant tactics

– C. 1913: Congress almost passed a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote

– D. 1920: 19th amendment passed. This gave women the rigth to vote

– *Many types of dissent were used in the movement for women’s suffrage!!!!!!

A. Women Seek the Right to Vote

• 1. After Civil War (1860’s), women wanted began to fight for right to vote

• 2. By 1911: 6 states allowed women to vote

• 3. Women wanted a Constitutional amendment!

B. Suffragette Movement

• 1. Suffrage: the right to vote• 2. Women continued to fight for an amendment during WWI.

• 3. *1920: 19th Amendment passed. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

• WOMEN COULD NOW VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Short Answer

• What effect did the 19th Amendment have on the United States?

Example #2: Civil Rights Movement

• 1960’s: several nonviolent events used to further the cause for civil rights– A. Rosa Parks (mid-1950’s)– B. March on Washington (1963)

– *These events helped government change. These events helped to get unjust laws changed or abolished.

Example #3: Anti-Vietnam Movement

• A. 1960’s and 70’s: many dissented against the war in Vietnam

• B. Many began to protest in the US1. Marches2. Rallies3. Teach-ins4. Civil disobedience used--more to come

on this!

Civil Disobedience• Civil disobedience is willful, active refusal to obey a law that the dissenters believe to be immoral.

• Usually planned in advance• Sometimes goal is to get arrested--draws attention to the cause

• Examples: organizing a blockade or occupying a facility and refusing to leave

• World History example: Gandhi in India--refused to obey British laws

• US History examples: 1930’s and 1940’s: Labor unions use nonviolent protests such as sit-ins to get better work conditions

Example #1: Civil Disobedience in the

Civil Rights Movement• A. Sit-ins:

– 1. 1960’s– 2. Blacks enter white-only facilities and refuse to leave, knowing they will get arrested

– 3. Created public awareness and support for their cause

B. Freedom Rides

– 1. From the north– 2. They went south to try to end segregation

– 3. Both blacks and whites participated

– 4. Group led by James Farmer– 5. Group called Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

•a. Goal: take trips to South to make sure

segregation laws were being enforced

Example 2: Vietnam War Protestors Engage in Civil

Disobedience• A. 1967: nationwide protests• B. young men turned in draft cards to draft boards (against the law!)

• C. Protests grew in 1968: this forced Pres. Johnson to halt its bombing of N. Vietnam

• D. Peak of protests in 1969: Pres. Nixon• E. Nov. 1969: 500,000 marched on Washington in protest

• F. Nixon ends draft to quell the anti-war movement• G. 1970: Nixon invades Cambodia--protests pick up again– 500 colleges shut down because of student protests– Kent St. and Jackson St. (Mississippi): protests led to students being killed

Successes of anti-war protests

• 1968: Pres. Johnson stopped bombing N. Vietnam

• Pres. Nixon’s eventual withdraw of troops

• **THESE PROTESTS BROUGHT ABOUT GOVERNMENTAL CHANGE!!!

Some Events of the Civil Rights Movement

• 1964

• CORE and SNCC launched a massive drive to get African Americans registered to vote; knows as the Freedom Summer

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 made segregation in public facilities and discrimination in employment illegal

• Three civil-rights workers in Mississippi killed by racists

Some Events of the Civil Rights Movement

• 1965

• Black nationalist leader Malcolm X assassinated in Harlem, New York City, by Black Muslims.

• African Americans led by Martin Luther King, Jr., marched to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of voting rights; stopped by police blockade; several marchers injured after police used tear gas, whips, and clubs; knows as “Bloody Sunday.”

• Congress passed Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register; literacy tests became illegal

Some Events of the Civil Rights Movement

• 1965-1968

• Urban riots in Los Angeles, Newark, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago

Some Events of the Civil Rights Movement

• 1968

• Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

• Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

Some Events of the Civil Rights Movement

• 1971

• In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, Supreme Court ruled that busing is a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools.

OGT Multiple Choice

What is NOT a way in which people can change the government?

A. RevolutionB. Political processC. Social protestsD. Voting on bills in Congress

OGT Multiple Choice

(Orange Book) Which of the following was NOT a goal of the student protests during the Vietnam War?

A. Support the United States to a complete victory

B. Bring an end to the draftC. Oppose American bombing of North

VietnamD. Bring American troops home

immediately

OGT Multiple Choice

(Mastering the OGT) “There are two types of laws: There are just laws and there are unjust laws. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” --Martin Luther King, Jr.

This quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. describes the theory behind

A. A “compelling” government interestB. Civil disobedienceC. The “clear and present danger” testD. “equal opportunity”

OGT Multiple Choice

(Mastering the OGT) Which action would be an example of civil disobedience?

A. Refusing to register for the draft because you oppose a war

B. Refusing to pay you income taxes because you recently lost your job

C. Surrendering a gun to the police because you believe in gun control

D. Passing a red light because you are late for an appointment

OGT Multiple Choice

All of the following are forms of dissent EXCEPT:

A. BoycottsB. Assassinating the PresidentC. Public awareness programsD. Marches

OGT Multiple Choice

(Mastering the OGT) The Women’s Suffrage Movement, the Civil Rights Movement and the 1960’s protests against the war in Vietnam were all efforts to

A. Bring about change through the electoral process

B. Overthrow the American governmentC. Accomplish change through social

protestD. Achieve new goals without government

action

OGT Multiple Choice

Intense disagreement with authority (usually the gov.) and often involves some kind of protest action or organized movement is

A. DissentB. Civil disobedienceC. Anti-war movementD. An example of a sit-in

OGT Multiple Choice

Civil disobedience is willful, active refusal to obey a law that the dissenters believe to be immoral.

A. DissentB. Civil disobedienceC. Anti-war movementD. An example of a sit-in

OGT Multiple Choice• (OGT Test, 2005) One form of civil disobedience

practiced by college students during the Vietnam War was the burning of draft cards.

• How were draft card burnings different from other forms of protest such as organizing marches and publishing underground newspapers?

• A. Draft card burnings were direct violations of a law perceived to be unjust.

• B. Draft card burnings were protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

• C. Draft card burnings were used to encourage young men to volunteer for military duty rather than be drafted.

• D. Draft card burnings were a continuation of protest methods begun by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s.

OGT Multiple Choice• (OGT Test, 2006) The burning of draft cards

by those who objected to the Vietnam War is an example of civil disobedience because it was an action that

• A. was protected by the U.S. Constitution.• B. was intended to draw the attention of

the media.• C. violated a law that the protesters

considered to be unjust.• D. expressed a point of view that was

unpopular at the time

OGT Short Answer• (OGT Test, 2008) A group of citizens organizes

a peaceful march through the streets of their nation’s capital. They carry signs calling for the nation’s leader to resign.

• Describe how likely this type of protest could be held in a presidential democracy and in a dictatorship. Explain the reason for these differences.

• Write your answer in the Answer Document. (2 points)

OGT Short Answer• Describe how PAC’s such as NOW, AIM,

and the NAACP as well as lobbyists can work to gain change in the government.

OGT Short Answer

• What effect did the 19th Amendment have on the United States?