Unit 3 Part II The Amendments to the US Constitution

Unit 3 Part II

The Amendments to the US Constitution

What does “Constitutional Flexibility” mean?

• The ability to change in order to adapt to a changing world

How does the Amendment process create “constitutional flexibility”?

• Offers a method of changing the Constitution to apply to new ways of thinking

The First 10 Amendments

• The Bill of Rights

Amendment 1

• Religion• Assembly• Petition• Press• Speech

2nd Amendment

Amendment 2

• Right to Bear Arms

Amendment 3

• 75cent Amendment

• No Quartering of Troops

4th Amendment

• Need a warrant 4 search and seizure

5th Amendment

• Rights of the Accused

Due Process

• Everyone is entitled to the same treatment under the law

Self-Incrimination

• Cannot be madeto testify against yourself

Grand Jury

• A grand jury must determine if there is enough evidence to indict (to charge)

Eminent Domain• Government can take your property for the publics best interest butmust pay a fair price forit.

Double Jeopardy

• You cannot be charged with the same crime twice

6th Amendment

• Right to a speedy, fair trial• Right to a lawyer.• Right to a jury trial• Right to confront witnesses against you• Right to bring your own witnesses

7th Amendment

• 7 suits for lawyers suing• If sued for more than $20 can ask to have

a jury trial.

8th Amendment

• No cruel and unusual punishment• No excessive bail

9th Amendment

• Right reserved to the people

10th Amendment

• Rights reserved to the states

When were the Bill of Rights ratified?

•1791

What are civil liberties?• The freedom to think and act without

government interference or fear of unfair treatment.

“Government shall make no law respecting an establishment of

religion”

What does the “free exercise clause” allow for in the United States?

John Peter Zenger1733

• Landmark case in Establishing the right to a free press

What does a free press expose the American people to?

• A wide variety of ideas and viewpoints

What does censorship refer to?

• Banning films or printed materials because of offensive or alarming ideas.

In what ways can the government regulate the mass media?

• Media cannot be used to harm someone’s reputation

• Media can be limited for national security purposes

• Laws prohibit printing of obscene materials

What amendment allows people to join groups?

• 1st Amendments right to assemble

Limits on personal freedoms

• Libel – cannot print lies about someone• Slander – speaking lies about someone• Rights of the Community – rights of one

can sometimes be limited if conflict with the rights of the community

Suffrage

• The right to vote

Suffrage Amendments

• Highlight the amendments that increase the right to suffrage.

• 15th, 17th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, 26th

What was the Civil Rights Movement?

Civil Rights Movement

The fight for equal treatment under the law for Americans

Decades of the Civil Rights

• 1950’s and 1960’s

Discrimination

• Unfair treatment based on prejudice against a certain group

“Jim Crowe” Laws

• Laws requiring African Americans and Whites to be separated in most public places

Segregation

• The separation of the races

Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

• Determined segregation was constitutional• Established the principle of “separate but

equal”

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)• Overturned Plessy v Ferguson• Segregation in public schools inherently

unequal

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Banned discrimination based on race, gender, religion, and national origin in public facilities, employment, education, and voter registration.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• All citizens have opportunity to vote, regardless of race

Affirmative Action Programs

• Programs that encouraged the hiring and admitting of minorities and women to programs traditionally closed to them.

Racial Profiling

• Being singled out as suspects because of the way they look.