The 1950s lasted far longer than a numerical decade. The Fifty's started in October 1947 when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, escorting in a time of rapid progress. The accent of the era was on convenience and speed-a time when abundant steps were taken to free the housewife from the dr...

Introduction American History is full of struggles and the fight for equality for all people. The civil rights era was among the most memorable battles in American History. It involved many sacrifices on the part of minorities and those that fought for their civil rights. The civil righ...

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his book Why We Can't Wait, quite correctly named the civil rights struggles of the mid-twentieth century the Third American Revolution. Though it is most often attributed to the 1960s the civil rights movement found it's start in the decade befo...

The Privilege of the Poor This country is founded centuries ago on the beliefs of a God fearing society. When our laws were first coming about was the "Eye for an eye" attitude taken into consideration? Did our founding fathers look upon the senseless acts of killing another human b...

Justification and Weaknesses of the Non-Interpretive Model Brief: Justification and Weaknesses of the Non-Interpretive Model The question of Constitutional interpretation still has yet to be resolved. Should only the explicit ...

Introduction This day in age murderers' actions are getting more and more incomprehensive. They are no longer just committing murder: they are torturing, mutilating, and engaging in grossly inappropriate acts against fellow human beings. Behaviors such as this will continue if nothing is ...

RACISM We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Declaration of Independence The legal barriers to racial equality have signi...

Free Speech VS. Hate Speech Most Americans would like to think that the United States is a place open to diversity with room for everyone. The fact is, hate is a huge block to this vision, and the atrocities of Mathew Shepard and James Byrd grow by the day increasing the search for a remedy. We...

The 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case was a major landmark in not only the abortion issue, but also in American government. In this paper I will discuss the case, including both arguments and the decision, and the significance of Roe v. Wade. I will also discuss the basis of the ruling as acco...

Poor, pregnant, and desperate, Norma McCorvey fell into the hands of two young and ambitious lawyers. They were looking for a plaintiff with whom they could challenge the Texas State law prohibiting abortion, and Norma signed on. Little did she know that her signature would one day make her an inter...

"There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, and war, and all evil in the state, as religion. Let it once enter our civil affairs, our government would soon be destroyed. Let it once enter our common schools, they would be destroyed." Supreme Cour...

When people talk about the civil rights movement, the first thing that comes to mind is the famous speech "I have a dream" by Martin Luther King. His dream in short was to have equality among human beings. For the past thirty years, this country has been revolutionizing humanitarianism...

Eugenics is the science of improving the population by controlled breeding for desirable inherited characteristics. The horrible effects of Canada's eugenics movement, which spanned from 1885 to 1945, still resound through Canadian courts to this day. The eugenics movement spawned the horrific prac...

In the following pages, I will discuss the history, debate, past and current public opinion, and how it applies to American ideology and opposing values. Both sides have a fair amount of support and I have included direct quotes and paraphrasing from authors, celebrities, journalists, and ordinary...

Thurgood Marshall was a man with strong social convictions for human rights. His teacher, Charles Hamilton Houston, implied this upon him. The case of Brown vs. the Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas was a case about black rights and would eventually become a landmark case in the early 1900s. The...

Conception: I believe that life begins at the ending of the first trimester through the pregnancy. I consider it a human when there is a beating heart and a brain that is functioning. A beating heart to me represents that there is life, and that there is signs of growth, while still in the mo...

PROBLEM AREA II: RIGHT OF PRIVACY The Right to Be Left Alone: An Examination of the Right of Privacy Prepared for Submission to the 1999 National Debate Topic Selection Committee by Cindi Timmons Colleyville Heritage HS Colleyville, Texas and Aaron Timmons Greenhill School Dallas, Texa...

Supreme Court Decisions That Greatly Impacted The Reproduction Rights Of Women When talking about Supreme Court decisions that have greatly impacted the lives of women it is very hard to settle on just five of the many cases that have been ruled in favor of the rights of women. When discu...

Should same-sex marriages be legal in the United States? Marriage has the power to change lives in an instant. For most people, marriages invoke images of a man and a woman being joined together forever. But for gays and lesbians, having the chance to enter into marriage is a far-off dream, not a r...

Capital Punishment Capital punishment is not a new concept. It is older then the Roman Empire, and has changed much since it's first use. Death through drowning, crucifixion, or hanging, or throwing form a high rock, or being thrown into a fiery furnace, or firing squad, or electric chair ...

The First Amendment: Our Guarantee of Individual Rights In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a set of rules known as the Articles of Confederation. From these meager beginnings sprang thirteen states and a promise of a representational government. Twelve years later congress ratified ...

The Supreme Court safeguards much of its power by creating walls to separate its power from public opinion and political pandering. And while impartiality is undoubtedly the preeminent characteristic desirable in a justice, it is impossible to nominate a human being that is not at least partially...

Discrimination Throughout the years of US history there have been countless acts of discrimination, of all sorts, and there have been an immense amount of cases filed in regards to these acts. Although it is commonly believed that discrimination is always illegal, the courts have repeatedly upheld...

On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion. When it ruled that abortion was legal, the court not only gave women the right to choose but also gave the unborn babies a right to die. Since that day, millions upon millions of unborn children have been ripped apart, burned w...

For minority protection by lesbians and gay men has moved to the center of American life at the outset of the 1990's. It is almost certain that lesbian and gay issues will be a more eminent aspect of the public consciousness and American political scene in the coming decade than in any other time i...