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Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott had lived in Illinois for ten years and, as Illinois was a free state due to the Missouri Compromise, believed he could apply for freedom when he returned to Missouri. However, his “suit” was denied due to his race. The case was taken to the supreme court and it was determined that because Scott was a black American, he could not be a United States Citizen. This case is significant because it set a racist precedent in our country that took many years to overturn. -
Thirteenth Amendment
This amendment to the constitution was passed by Congress on Janurary 31, 1865 but was ratified in December. This amendment bans slavery for all individuals -
Fourteenth Amendment
This amendment is huge. Not only does it keep states from passing laws that could hurt people due to their citizens, but that states can’t infringe on peoples’ life, liberty, and property. It also states that everyone born in the United States is a citizen. -
Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits both state and Federal governments from keeping people from voting due to their race. -
Poll Taxes
A fixed amount that every person had to pay before voting. These taxes were a method of prohibiting certain individuals from voting, like people of color. -
White Primaries
These are elections where many black voters were disenfranchised through poll taxes, literacy tests, or grandfather clauses. Thus, many of the voters in southern states that employed these methods were white. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The supreme court determined, in this case, that segregation against individuals based on race was not unconstitutional. It also set up the “separate but equal” doctrine which was definitely not equal and would take decades to overturn. -
Nineteenth Amendment
This amendment guaranteed the right ot vote for people based on gender, thereby granting the right to vote to women. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This supreme court case overturned the previous Plessy v. Ferguson case and determined that the “separate but equal” doctrine was not equal and that racial segregation is in fact unconstitutional. -
Twenth-Fourth Amendment
This amendment stops states from initiating poll taxes on voters. Poll taxes made it difficult for poorer people to vote, specifically people of color. Thus, stopping these poll taxes, opened up voting to more individuals. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This piece of legislation prohibited discrimination against people due to their gender, race or religion. It was a landmark bill that also outlawed methods many southern states employed to keep certain groups, like people of color, from voting. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This piece of legislation outlawed discrimination based on race for voters. It was also seen as a method of enforcing the fifteenth amendment. -
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action is a set of policies that were created to stop discrimination in places like the workforce or universities -
Reed v. Reed
The Supreme Court determined in this case that a law from Idaho, stating that for estate appointments, a man should be “preferred to females”, was unconstitutional. This case upheld the Equal Rights Act and that any preference for any sex was likewise unconstitutional. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This amendment guaranteed legal equality between genders, even in matters of divorce, jobs and property ownership. It wasn’t ratified, however, due to not enough state support. -
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This case determined that having requirements for a university based on race was constitutional, especially for affirmative action. The Supreme Court also determined in this case that government-sponsored requirements for minorities violated the fourteenth amendment. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
In this case, the Supreme Court determined that adults don’t have a right to privacy in their own houses. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This piece of legislation prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. -
Motor Voter Act
This court case expanded the possibilities for voter registration by working with local DMV chapters. This piece of legislation helped stop the disenfranchisement of votes from people of color. -
Lawrence v. Texas
This case overturned the Bowers v. Harwick case and determined that adults do have the right to privacy in their own homes. -
Obgerfell v. Hodges
In this case, the Supreme Court granted the right to marriage to same-sex couples, citing the Equal Protection Clause under the fourteenth amendment. This case is huge because it determined that the right to marry was a liberty guaranteed under the constitution.