Tyler Willett Political Science 11/9/14
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1. The First Amendment is the most important and crucial amendment guaranteed by the bill of rights. The First Amendment protects Americans freedom of religion, speech, press, right of assembly, and petition. The first clause of the First Amendment is the Freedom in the establishment clause, which creates the separation of church and state. However, certain
encounters between the state and church are allowed if it can pass the lemon test, which is a three pronged test to make sure no religion is favored and doesn’t oppress other religions. The second clause is the Free Exercise clause. This clause protects everyone’s right to believe and practice which ever faith you so desire. The Free speech clause protects people’s right to voice their opinions on matters. Some speech is absolutely protected such as political speech, and others are conditionally protected such as obscenity. The freedom of the press is the protection of the ability to publish opinions and news no matter how bad it may be. The government can’t even stop information about them from being published even if it puts them in a bad light. This is also referred to as the Doctrine against prior restraint. The right of assembly is the individual right or ability to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend common interests. The right to petition is the protection of the right to publicly express their distress of grievance of an even. When any of these clauses are believed to be infringed upon, the government must view it with strict scrutiny to prove that it is acting
constitutionally. If these rights are to be infringed upon, the government must show a compelling state interest to explain why they are doing this. This amendment is so important because it allows for Americans to believe freely and not discriminated against because of their beliefs and opinions. It also ties into many of the other amendments because it is the most basic and essential human right.
consists of the president and his advisors. This branch has the power to negotiate foreign treaties, enforce laws, and act as a judge in granting pardons. Much like the Legislature, this branch also has a set of unsaid laws that give them the ability to carry out the laws they are required to enforce and they are called implied powers. The president also has a very unique ability to delegate his power to other people if there is a lot of work that needs to be done in a time sensitive manor. The third branch is the Judiciary branch which is the court system, created by the third article of the
constitution. This system includes federal and state trial courts, then a case can move to an appeals court, then if need be, it gets passed to the State Supreme court or U.S. Supreme court which is also a type of appeals court. The Federal Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of other decisions made in trial courts. For it to reach this stage however, it must be a case in controversy, it must be standing, and it cannot be moot. All three of these branches have checks and balances to limit the other branches powers. The Legislative branch has the power to impeach a president if they feel he is not properly performing his duties. They also have the power to override a
president’s veto of a bill with a two thirds vote. The executive branch has the power to veto any laws created by the legislature and also pardon people in court cases. The Judiciary branch has probably the most powerful checks and balance, whereas they granted themselves the power of judicial review in the court case of Marbury vs. Madison. This is believed to be the most powerful of the checks and balances because it allows the courts to declare any act or bill created by any other branch of the government unconstitutional and cancels out that act or bill.
3. The Civil Rights act came about in our country during the abolition/ women’s rights movements. After the Civil war ended, the 13th, 14th, and 15th
reconstruction amendments were added to the constitution. The 13th
amendment abolished slavery, the 14th amendment created equal protection
and due process of the law, and the 15th gave voting rights to African
Americans. However, these laws were very often not acknowledged in the south, and Jim Crow law was still followed, which involved continued
discrimination of African Americans. Then in 1896 in the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson, it is stated that all things can be segregated but must be equal to both races. This was not the case however, for African Americans were still very poorly treated and were not given equal rights and commodities as whites. People such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks battled against this discrimination to gain equal rights by protesting and having sit in’s. This occurred for some time until the Brown v. Board of Education court case of 1954. In this court case the idea of separate but equal was struck down and the power for states to discriminate based on race was eliminated. This gave blacks more of an opportunity to be accepted into schools and get job
opportunities. While this is occurring, women also are putting in their efforts to gain rights and a voice in what happens in society. During the abolition movement they were looking to help the African Americans, but had no political influence or say in matters. Then in 1848, the Seneca Falls
women’s rights. The rights they were fighting for was emancipation from men and the right to vote, because in those times women were viewed as their husbands property. Then, in 1920, the 19th amendment was passed, giving
women the right to vote. Since then there has been a steady increase in equality in job opportunities and education for males and females but to this day it is still not wholly equal. Today, things like affirmative action are giving much more education and job opportunities to women to equal the playing field and give each gender a fair chance.
4. Affirmative action is increasing opportunities for people who have in the past been discriminated against. This can apply to a broad spectrum of
