Chapter 5 American Government

Introduction

  • Founding U.S. ideals: liberty, equality, justice, yet large segments (women, African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, LGBT, people with disabilities) long excluded.
  • Contemporary protest example: opposition/support for Park51 Islamic center near Ground Zero illustrates ongoing prejudice.
  • Chapter asks: difference b/w civil liberties & rights? How rights struggles evolved (African Americans, women, indigenous, others)?

5.1 What Are Civil Rights and How Do We Identify Them?

  • Civil rights = government-guaranteed protections ensuring equal treatment, esp. for historically oppressed groups.
  • Rooted in Declaration (“all men are created equal”) and constitutional text:
    • 5th5^{th} Am. Due Process (applies to fed. govt.)
    • 14th14^{th} Am. Equal Protection (applies to states) – "No State shall … deny … equal protection of the laws."
  • Civil liberties = limits on govt. power to protect freedoms (e.g., 8th8^{th} Am. ban on cruel punishment).
  • Equal protection principle: "all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike."
  • Acceptable unequal treatment when justified (age limits on voting/driver’s license).

Standards of Judicial Review

  • Rational Basis Test
    • Default; challenger bears burden.
    • Discrimination allowed if "rationally related to a legitimate government interest."
    • Example: banning blind persons from driving.
  • Intermediate Scrutiny (gender/sex)
    • Govt. must show policy is "substantially related to an important governmental objective."
    • Origin: Craig v. Boren (1976); applied again in Clark v. Jeter (1988).
    • Often strikes down gender distinctions (e.g., all-male public military colleges like The Citadel forced to admit women), but draft limitation to men upheld.
  • Strict Scrutiny (race, ethnicity, religion, national origin)
    • Govt. must prove "compelling governmental interest," law is "narrowly tailored," and "least restrictive means."
    • Rarely survives; infamous exception: Korematsu v. US (1944) upholding WWII Japanese-American internment.
  • Affirmative Action debates hinge on whether strict scrutiny applies to remedial racial preferences.

Identifying Discrimination & Civil Rights Problems

  • Discrimination pervasive yet sometimes lawful (age limits, academic prerequisites).
  • Three-question analytical tool:
    1. Which group faces unequal treatment?
    2. Which right(s) are being denied?
    3. What realistic governmental remedy exists?
  • Civic engagement example: Southern Poverty Law Center resources, hate-group geography exercise.

Putting Civil Rights in the Constitution

  • Post-Civil War backlash: Southern Black Codes attempted to recreate slavery conditions (vagrancy laws, educational exclusion, violence).
  • Congressional response:
    • 13th Am. (1865) abolished slavery.
    • 14th Am. (1868) citizenship, due process, equal protection.
    • 15th Am. (1870) suffrage for black men.

5.2 The African American Struggle for Equality

  • Founding contradiction: Jefferson’s "all men" vs. slave ownership.
  • Slavery contentious with westward expansion; Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) ruled blacks non-citizens & limited fed. power to ban slavery in territories.
  • Civil War (1861–65) culminated in Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (1863) – freed slaves in rebelling states; symbolic shift in war aims.

Reconstruction (1865-1877)

  • Military rule, Republican reforms; Freedmen gained voting & office-holding.
  • Withdrawal of federal troops (1877) → Redeemer governments, violent suppression.

Disenfranchisement Tactics

  • Literacy/understanding tests with registrar discretion.
  • Grandfather clause exempted illiterate whites.
  • Poll taxes (cumulative) disproportionately hurt blacks.
  • White primaries barred black participation via "private party" claim.

Jim Crow Era

  • Segregation codified; Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) legitimized "separate but equal."
  • NAACP (1909, Du Bois) pursued legal strategy; key higher-ed victories (1938 Gaines, later Sweatt, McLaurin).
  • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned Plessy in education; relied on social-science evidence (psychological harm).
  • Resistance: Massive Resistance (VA), Little Rock crisis (1957) – Eisenhower federalizes National Guard, 101st Airborne escort.

Direct-Action Phase

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56) – Rosa Parks, ED Nixon; success via non-violent protest.
  • Sit-ins (1960 Greensboro), Freedom Rides (1961) enforcing Morgan v. Virginia.
  • March on Washington Prayer Pilgrimage (1957); Selma-Montgomery March (1965) "Bloody Sunday" leading to Voting Rights Act.

Landmark Legislation

  • Civil Rights Act 1964: outlawed public-accommodation segregation, job discrimination (race, color, religion, sex, national origin); created EEOC; justified via Commerce Clause.
  • Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) banned federal poll tax; Harper v. Virginia (1966) extended to all elections.
  • Voting Rights Act 1965: federal oversight, banned literacy tests; later limited by Shelby County v. Holder (2013).

Black Power & Continuing Challenges

  • Emergence of Malcolm X, Black Panthers; emphasis on self-defense & pride.
  • Persistent issues: de facto segregation, white flight, racial profiling, economic inequality, police violence (Ferguson, Baltimore).
  • Affirmative Action jurisprudence: Bakke (1978) banned quotas but allowed race as factor; Grutter (2003) upheld holistic review; Fisher I & II (2013/16) reaffirmed narrow tailoring requirement.

5.3 The Fight for Women’s Rights

Historical Legal Status

  • Coverture: married women’s legal identity subsumed by husbands; could not own property, keep wages, divorce easily.
  • Early activism linked to abolition & temperance; Seneca Falls Convention (1848) issued Declaration of Sentiments; suffrage resolution controversial.
  • Split: NWSA (Stanton/Anthony, constitutional amendment) vs. AWSA (Stone, state strategy). Merger 1890 → NAWSA.
  • Tactics: petitions, parades; NWP (Alice Paul) adopted pickets, hunger strikes; harsh jailings.
  • Nineteenth Amendment (1920) secured women’s suffrage; hinging vote: Rep. Harry Burn influenced by mother.

ERA & Second-Wave Feminism

  • Equal Rights Amendment first proposed 1923; passed Congress 1972, failed ratification by 1982 (35/38 states).
  • Title VII (1964) banned sex job discrimination; enforcement weak → NOW (1966) formation.
  • Title IX (1972) mandated sex equality in federally funded education/sports.
  • Reproductive rights: Roe v. Wade (1973) constitutionalized abortion access; ongoing state restrictions struck (Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt 2016).

Ongoing Issues

  • Glass ceiling: underrepresentation in top corporate/government roles.
  • Wage gap – women earn about 0.790.79 per male dollar (2014 data); comparable worth doctrine advocated.
  • High rates of single motherhood, poverty, sexual harassment, domestic violence.

5.4 Civil Rights for Indigenous Groups

Historic Oppression

  • Treaties violated; Indian Removal Act (1830); Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) & Worcester (1832) ignored; Trail of Tears (1838-39).
  • Reservations, boarding-school assimilation; Dawes Act (1887) allotment policy; Curtis Act (1898) ended tribal governments.

Policy Shifts & Activism

  • Indian Citizenship Act (1924); Indian Reorganization Act (1934) restored tribal governance.
  • 1960s-70s Pan-Indian/Red Power:
    • Alcatraz occupation (1969-71).
    • AIM seizure of BIA (1972) & Wounded Knee standoff (1973).
  • Indian Self-Determination Act (1975) – tribes control programs, receive federal funds.
  • Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (1988) – casino operations.
  • American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978) – protects ceremonies (peyote, eagle bones).

Alaska Natives & Native Hawaiians

  • Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1971) – 4444 million acres + $900\$900 million.
  • Hawaiian lands: 1900 & 1959 trust lands; current push for self-governing status; legal battles over Native-only voting.

Continuing Disparities

  • High poverty, unemployment, addiction, suicide, educational gaps, low life expectancy.

5.5 Equal Protection for Other Groups

Hispanic/Latino Americans

  • Terms: Hispanic = Spanish-speaking; Latino = Latin-American origin.
  • Post-1848 annexations, farm & railroad labor; violence & voter suppression;
  • LULAC (1929) civil rights org.
  • Mendez v. Westminster (1947) ended CA school segregation of Mexican Americans.
  • Operation Wetback (1953-58) mass deportations.
  • Chicano Movement: calls for Brown Power; walkouts (1968 East L.A.) → Bilingual Education Act (1968).
  • United Farm Workers (1962) – César Chávez & Dolores Huerta; Delano grape strike, nationwide boycotts; slogan “Sí se puede.”
  • Anti-immigration measures: CA Proposition 187 (1994) struck down; AZ SB 1070 (2010) partially invalidated in Arizona v. US (2012).

Asian Americans

  • 19th-century labor influx; Chinese Exclusion Act (1882); Geary Act; miscegenation & land-ownership bans; Immigration Act 1924 barred most Asians.
  • WWII Japanese-American internment via EO 9066; Korematsu v. US (1944) upheld.
  • 1960s Pan-Asian identity; AAPA (1968); Lau v. Nichols (1974) mandated English-learning support.
  • Model-minority stereotype; nevertheless face discrimination, hate crimes.

LGBT Community

  • Early secrecy; Mattachine Society & Daughters of Bilitis (1950s).
  • Stonewall Riots (1969) sparked Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activists Alliance.
  • De-pathologization (1973 APA); Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (1994) repealed 2011.
  • Lawrence v. Texas (2003) invalidated sodomy laws.
  • Civil unions → same-sex marriage; Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) legalized nationwide.
  • Backlash: state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts; ongoing employment/housing discrimination; Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act (2009).

Americans with Disabilities

  • Historical sterilization/eugenics; Buck v. Bell (1927) sanctioned compulsory sterilization.
  • Rehabilitation Act (1973) – bans disability discrimination in fed. programs.
  • Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) – individualized education.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) – employment, public accommodation, transportation access; requires "reasonable accommodations."

Religious Minorities

  • Anti-Catholic & anti-Mormon violence (19th c.); Jewish quotas & housing covenants (early 20th c.).
  • Post-9/11: increased Islamophobia; workplace discrimination over hijab; hate crimes.
  • Conflicts between religious liberty claims and LGBT rights (e.g., Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014), state RFRAs).

Key Terms & Concepts (select)

  • Black Codes, Jim Crow, Literacy & Understanding Tests, Grandfather Clause, White Primary, Poll Tax – disenfranchisement mechanisms.
  • Direct Action, Civil Disobedience – strategic non-violent protest.
  • Strict/Intermediate/Rational Basis, Equal Protection Clause – judicial review frameworks.
  • Glass Ceiling, Comparable Worth – labor-market gender inequity ideas.
  • Trail of Tears, Dawes Act, Self-Determination – pivotal in indigenous policy.

Ethical & Practical Implications

  • Balancing equality with religious freedom, public safety, and federalism remains contentious.
  • Court decisions both expand and contract rights (e.g., Shelby County undermining VRA; Obergefell expanding marriage).
  • Ongoing need for vigilance: civil rights can regress without advocacy, legal protection, and societal commitment.