Chapter 4 Flashcards
What are civil liberties?
Specific individual rights that cannot be taken away by govt. Are guaranteed.
What are civil rights?
Based in groups, “equal rights”, having equal treatment by govt
Impact of Alien Act in 1798 (Then)
Alien Act, authorized the president to deport from the U.S. all aliens suspected of “treasonable or secret” inclinations
What is the Alien Enemy Act?
Allowed the president during wartime to arrest aliens subject to an enemy power
X-Sedition Act of 1798 (prohibited)
Criminalized the publication of materials that brought the U.S. govt into “disrepute”
What are rights?
Powers or privileges to which individuals are entitled
What are natural rights?
Based on the natural laws of human society. Exist even in absence of govt.
What are positive rights?
Granted by govt. Can be modified by rules.
Declaration of Independence states that…?
if “the consent of the governed” fails to protect those rights, people have the right to “alter or abolish such government”.
9th and 10th amendment deal with what?
Division between federal and state govt
Barron v. Baltimore
Court dismissed because at that time only the federal govt could be held up to the standards of the Bill of Rights
14th amendment original intent?
Wanted to protect freed slaves from discriminatory state laws
14th amendment actual?
No state could “deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law”.
20th century things changed
Court started using incorporation. State govts accountable to the Bill or Rights by using the 14th amendment due process clause
The 3rd amendment..?
Safeguard against the involuntary quartering of troops
The 5th amendment..?
Requirement that defendants be indicted by a grand jury
The 7th amendment..?
Guarantee of a trail by jury in civil cases
The 8th amendment..?
Prohibition against excessive bail and fines
What is Protestantism?
Played a role in public life. 1st amendment provided a barrier
Jefferson’s “wall of separation” …
between “church and state”
What is the free exercise clause?
Bans govt laws that prohibit free exercise of religion
Who makes the decision?
Supreme Court
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Favor of the Amish. Ruled that members of the Amish religion were not required to send their children to school after the 8th grade
Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
The Supreme court ordered the state of South Carolina to pay unemployment benefits to a Seventh-Day Adventist who refused to work on Saturdays. Declared that only a “compelling state interest”
