Checks and Balances

Jessica Andrews

James Joy

Pos 111-001

Spring 2015

Civil Liberties Argument-Midterm 1

Premise: The drive for civil liberties and civil rights have come along way but still have a long way to come to ensure that everyone has the same equal rights

Definitions:

Civil liberties- Is a guarantee and freedom that the government does or should guarantee.  

Civil Right- Is a right that is protected by the government against discriminatory treatment by individuals or the government

Framers- The men who wrote the Declaration of Independence

Constitution- A document that establishes the format, powers, and limitations of a governing body

Declaration of Independence- The document that allowed the segregation from the British Monarchy which was ratified in 1776.

Civil Union- A relationship between a couple that is legally recognized by a governmental authority and has many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage

Slavery- The practice of keeping slaves

Women’s Rights- The rights claimed for women, equal to those of men, with the respect of suffrage, property, and the professional fields

Argument 1:

 A look back into history there has always been a fight for equal civil liberties and civil rights.  This country was founded on freedoms such as the freedom to practice free religion, free speech and so on.  Although the framers of this country understood the importance of freedoms which is shown in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights, it has proven to be difficult to ensure that everyone had the same rights.  One of the biggest fights for civil liberties and rights was the Civil War and the call to end slavery.  Eventually slavery was abolished and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were added to the constitution to help ensure equal rights for the people of the United States.  However not everyone was ensured equal rights.  Women still had to fight for the right to vote which happened in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th amendment.  Then the fight to desegregate schools in America happened in 1954 with the case Brown v Board of Education.  The US Supreme Court ruled to desegregate public schools.  It would be thought that by now this country would not have problem with civil liberties and rights but that is not the case.  For instance this country is still fighting for same sex marriage and the gender wage gap.

Argument 2:

        Same sex marriage has been an issue in this country for a long time.  In 1993 the public national discussion around same sex marriage began.  It first began in the state of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Supreme Court.  The state Supreme Court ruled that the laws denying same sex couples the right to marry violated the state constitutional equal protection rights (ncsl).  Before the decision made in Hawaii, only seven states clearly defined marriage as a relationship between a man and a women.  After 32 states including Hawaii approved language that defied a marriage as being a relationship between a man and a woman.  Alaska took things to a new level when they made the nation’s first constitutional provision that prohibited same sex marriage.  At the end of the year 2000 40 states had statutory and or constitutional provisions that limited marriage to opposite sex couples.  

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