American Government and Politics Today, Brief Edition, 2014-2015

CHAPTER FivE • Civil RigHTs 93

that had significant consequences for civil rights in America: the civil rights movement of

the 1950s and 1960s and the women’s movement, which began in the mid-1800s and

continues today. Each of these movements resulted in legislation that secured important

basic rights for all Americans—the right to vote and the right to equal protection under

the laws. We then explore a question with serious implications for today’s voters and poli-

cymakers: What should the government’s responsibility be when equal protection under

the law is not enough to ensure truly equal opportunities for Americans?

Note that most minorities in this nation have suffered—and some continue to suf-

fer—from discrimination. These include such groups as older Americans and persons with

disabilities. The fact that some groups are not singled out for special attention in the fol-

lowing pages should not be construed to mean that their struggle for equality is any less

significant than the struggles of those groups that we do discuss.

THE AFRiCAn AmERiCAn ExPERiEnCE

And THE Civil RigHTs movEmEnT

Before 1863, the Constitution protected slavery and made equality impossible in the

sense in which we use the word today. The inferior status of African Americans was con-

firmed just a few years before the outbreak of the Civil War in the infamous Dred Scott v.

Sandford^1 case of 1857. The Supreme Court held that slaves and their descendants—even

if free—were not citizens of the United States, nor were they entitled to the rights and

privileges of citizenship. The Dred Scott

decision had grave consequences. Many

historians contend that the ruling contrib-

uted to making the Civil War inevitable.

Ending servitude

With the emancipation of the slaves

by President Lincoln’s Emancipation

Proclamation in 1863 and the passage of

the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth

Amendments during the Reconstruction

period (1865–1877) following the Civil

War, constitutional inequality was ended.

Constitutional Amendments. The

Thirteenth Amendment (1865) states that

neither slavery nor involuntary servitude

shall exist within the United States. The

Fourteenth Amendment (1868) tells us

that all persons born or naturalized in the

United States are citizens of the United

States. It states, furthermore, that “[n]o

State shall make or enforce any law which

shall abridge the privileges or immunities

of citizens of the United States; nor shall

Social Media

in Politics

Twitter contains a

large number of

hashtags devoted to

civil rights. You could

check out #civilrights,

#womensrights, or

#gayrights.

LO1: Summarize the historical

experience of African Americans,

state how the separate-but-equal

doctrine was abolished, and

describe the consequences of the

civil rights movement.

An African American soldier in the Union Army during the

Civil War, about 1863. What influence might such troops have had on the struggle

for African American rights after the Civil War? (Archive Photos/Getty Images)

1. 60 U.S. 393 (1857).

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