66

These demonstrators are

participating in a March

on Washington for

Gun Control in January

2013 in response to

a shooting that killed

twenty-six children and

teachers at Sandy Hook

Elementary School,

Newtown Connecticut.

(Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty

Images)

Learning OutcOmes

The five Learning Outcomes (LOs) below are designed to help improve your

understanding of this chapter. After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

◾   LO1 Describe the Bill of Rights and how it came to

be applied to state governments as well as the national

government.

◾   LO2 Explain how the First Amendment’s establishment

clause and free exercise clause guarantee our freedom of

religion.

◾   LO3 Specify the limited circumstances, including

obscenity and slander, in which the national and state

governments may override the principles of free speech and

freedom of the press.

“The land of the free.” When asked what makes the United

States distinctive, Americans will commonly say that it is a free country. Americans have

long believed that limits on the power of government are an essential part of what makes

this country free. Recall from Chapter 1 that restraints on the actions of government

against individuals generally are referred to as civil liberties. The first ten amendments to

the U.S. Constitution—the Bill of Rights—place such restraints on the national govern-

4

◾   LO4 Provide the constitutional basis of the right to

privacy, and explain how the principle has been applied to

the abortion and right-to-die controversies.

◾   LO5 Identify the constitutional rights of those who are

accused of a crime, describe the Miranda and exclusionary

rules, and cite examples of how recent security concerns have

affected our civil liberties.

Check your understanding of the material with the Test Yourself section at

the end of the chapter.

Civil Liberties

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