The Constitution's effect on Native Americans The Constitution had a great effect on Native Americans in general. They were effected in three major ways. They are; the change in where they lived and what land was considered theirs, what Religious rights they had and/or have, and lastly, how they...

Black people had significant historical importance to the nation and the importance of black-white relations in U.S. society today. Throughout the history black were denied many important things to have, a traditional life style, black Americans could not work, live, shop, eat, seek entertainment, o...

The complaints of Native Americans, western farmers, and African Americans in the later 19th century are the result of too little government action. When problems began to arise in the West, only then did the American Government hastily find even more disputable solutions. The government did no...

Affirmative Action on Trial: Is Fairness an Elusive Goal? GENERAL BACKGROUND: What are the origins of what is known today as affirmative action, the programs that seek to remedy past discrimination against minorities and women? The original American foundation for social justice, fairness and civ...

Hamilton was a federalist and served as the secretary of the treasury in the 1890s. He was a strong supporter of a centralized federal government. He also advocated loose interpretation of the u.s. constitution and the use of the elastic clause. Which was an ambiguous power of the federal gover...

"As early as 1871, Frederick Douglas ridiculed the idea of racial quotas, arguing that they would promote an 'image of blacks as privileged wards of the state'" (O'Conner, pp. 216). Affirmative action is viewed either as reverse discrimination or compensation for past mis...

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...

In 1798, there was a young Republican publicist named Benjamin Franklin Bache, the editor of the Philadelphia Aurora, who was known as "Lightning Rod, Junior" because he was the grandson of Benjamin Franklin and was known for his shocking phraseology. Impetuous, harsh, narrow-minded and d...

The Amistad Conflict In January 1839, fifty-three African natives were kidnapped from eastern Africa and sold into the Spanish slave trade. They were then placed aboard a Spanish slave ship bound for Havana, Cuba. Once in Havana, the Africans were classified as native Cuban slaves and purchased...

Courts As Legislators The purpose of this paper is to show that although not originally intended to, some our modern day courts in the United States have in essence become legislators. I will give a brief overview of the history of courts and site some cases where the dec...

Although Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, enacted in 1862, intended freedom for all slaves, it did not completely eliminate slavery. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution were adopted after the Civil War as attempts to end discrimination. In shor...

Discrimination and exclusion have been a part of our country for as many years as America is old. Gender has certainly played an enormous role in the history of discrimination, as have many different races. While a case can be made for women being discriminated against and excluded, there is no si...

Brown Vs. Board of Education Racial segregation in public schools began in 1892 over the United States Supreme Court's decision in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson's, "separate but equal" doctrine, that lasted until the early 1950's. This precedent legally enabled "sep...

A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, assembly, the right to vote, freedom from involuntary servitude, and the right to equality in public places. Discriminati...

Affirmative Action as defined by the Meriam Webster's Dictionary is an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups or women. In 1961 John F. Kennedy issued an executive order calling for Affirmative Action as a means to promote equal opportuni...

Analysis of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka On June 7, 1892 a man named Homer Adolph Plessy was arrested and jailed for refusing to leave the "White" section of an East Louisiana Railroad train. Although Plessy was only one-eighths black, under Louisiana law he was considered bla...

In 1954, the Pledge of Allegiance was changed to include the phrase "under God." In the last few years, the controversy over this phrase has grown substantially to where it has become a problem. Many Americans do not see any harm in this phrase because they believe in God, but our forefa...

Unwanted Integration In the early 1950's, racial segregation in public schools was the standard across America. Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were greatly inferior to their white equal. The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education d...

These Colors Don't Run, But They Do Burn The famous phrase, "...give me liberty, or give me death," was articulated by the revolutionary thinker Patrick Henry and has since become a mantra for the people of the United States of America. However, many may never think about the myriad...

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...

The significant debate on religion in schools is becoming more and more heated. Many people say that banning religion in schools would be unconstitutional, which in some aspects is understandable since the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of religion....

During the 1960s, the resistance to racial segregation and discrimination included strategies such as civil disobedience, nonviolent resistance, marches, protests, boycotts, "freedom rides," and rallies. There were also continuing efforts to legally challenge segregation through the courts...

Better Education: The Controversy Over School Vouchers Education remains America's most influential avenue of opportunity. Most Americans recognize the necessity of an elementary and secondary level of education to succeed within the highly competitive world beyond adolescence. Without a ba...

Religion in Public Schools The question "Should prayer be allowed in public schools" is one of the biggest debates in the minds and lips of Americans today. The open practice of religion in publicly funded schools is not a new debate, nor a simple one. Americans have been fighting ab...

In 1896 the Supreme Court had held in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation was allowed as long as equal facilities were provided for both races. Although that decision was made for passenger on railroads, the principle of "separate but equal" was applied thereafter to all aspects of public life. Wh...