Bill of Rights Breakdown
Which amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly?
The First Amendment
What is the main purpose of civil liberties?
To protect citizens from government actions.
Civil rights involve what kind of government actions?
Positive acts ensuring equal protection for all people.
Define “due process.”
The government must act fairly and follow established rules and laws.
Which amendment gave African American men the right to vote?
The 15th Amendment.
The phrase “governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” in the Declaration of Independence illustrates what theory? Bonus points if you can identify a constitutional priniciple that this reflects.
The Social Contract Theory (also reflects popular sovereignty).
Which amendment protects against double jeopardy and self-incrimination?
The Fifth Amendment
Which two clauses in the First Amendment protect religious freedom?
The Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.
What 1954 Supreme Court case struck down segregation in public schools?
Brown v. Board of Education.
The 14th Amendment’s due process clause applies to which level of government?
State governments.
Which amendment granted women the right to vote?
The 19th Amendment.
Which Constitutional amendment prohibited denying voting rights based on race or color?
The 15th Amendment.
What English documents influenced many rights in the U.S. Bill of Rights, such as trial by jury and due process?
The English Bill of Rights and Magna Carta
Civil liberties guarantee freedom of what three areas?
Belief, expression, and personal security.
Which law outlawed discrimination in public accommodations and jobs? (to get these points you MUST have the year)
The Civil Rights Act of 1964.
What term describes merging most Bill of Rights protections into the 14th Amendment?
Incorporation.
What did the 24th Amendment ban?
Poll taxes.
Why did Anti-Federalists push for the Bill of Rights to be added to the U.S. Constitution?
They believed the people’s liberties needed protection from the government.
The Tenth Amendment limits the power of which level of government?
The federal government
What Supreme Court process applies the Bill of Rights to the states?
Selective Incorporation
What case did Brown v. Board overturn? Bonus points if you know the ruling from the overturned case.
Plessy v. Ferguson (said separate but equal was fine; provided legal pathway to segregation).
True or False: Due process applies to both public and private schools.
False. It only applies to public schools as they receive federal (government) funding. Private schools usually operate independently and can establish their own rules.
What amendment lowered the voting age to 18?
The 26th Amendment.
What constitutional principle of government is most evident in the creation of Articles I, II, and III of the U.S. Constitution?
Separation of Powers.
Which amendment ensures that unlisted rights are still protected and belong to the people?
The Ninth Amendment
Which two amendments most directly address due process protections?
The 5th and 14th Amendments.
Which amendment guarantees equal protection under the law?
The Fourteenth Amendment.
What is “eminent domain”?
The government’s power to take private property for public use with fair compensation.
Name two major laws that enforced equal voting rights in the 1960s. Bonus if you get BOTH years.
The Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965).
The Tenth Amendment says powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.
How does this amendment create federalism in the United States?
It gives powers not specifically granted to the national government to the states, dividing authority between levels of government.