Government Test 2

13th Amendment

abolished slavery except as punishment for a crime for the duly convicted

14th Amendment

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws

15th Amendment

U.S. cannot prevent a person from voting because of race, color, or creed

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a portions of the crops.

Tenant Farming

A system in which farm workers supply their own tools and rent farm land

Jim Crow

Laws written to separate blacks and whites in public areas/meant African Americans had unequal opportunities in housing, work, education, and government. Jim Crow also referred to as a minstrel character.

Affirmative Action

involves sets of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed or nationality in areas in which such groups are underrepresented - such as education and employment.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

California vs. Bakke (1978)

strict quotas cannot be invoked concerning college admission; quota system is unconstitutional and affirmative action is constitutional

Hopwood v. Texas (1996)

The Court ruled that the University of Texas School of Law could not use race as a deciding factor in their admissions process because the 14th amendment forbids discrimination.

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

Allowed the use of race as a general factor in law school admissions at University of Michigan. Upheld Affirmative Action Policy

Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2013)

Supreme Court ruled that a state ban on Affirmative Action is constitutional because of the tenth Amendment, there is no authority in the U.S. Constitution or in the court's precedents the judiciary to set aside Michigan law and university boards delegated admissions related authority to unelected
faculty and administration

Electoral College

A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president. Formerly elected US Senators.

Nepotism

favoritism shown to family or friends by those in power, especially in business or hiring practices

Quota

a limited or fixed number or amount of people or things, in particular.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

a government agency with the power to investigate complaints of employment discrimination and the power to sue firms that practice it. Passed by JFK (Democrat)

Reperations

The making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. 40 acres and a mule

Richard Nixon

1968 and 1972; Republican

Correlation

does not equal causation

Lydon B. Johnson

1963, Kennedy's VP who took office upon his assassination

Meritocracy

government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability

Strict scrutiny standard

the government must show that there is a compelling, or very strong, interest in the law, and that the law is either very narrowly tailored or is the least speech restrictive means available to the government