Influential Documents
America’s first constitution which created a weak central government.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
This opening section explains the Constitution’s purpose.
What is the Preamble?
Civil liberties are freedoms protected from what?
What is government interference?
The amendment protecting freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.
What is the First Amendment?
Civil Rights protect against this by government or society.
What is discrimination?
This colonial agreement created a self-government system aboard a ship in 1620.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
This principle divides power among legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
What is Separation of Powers?
An example of a civil liberty protected by the First Amendment.
What is freedom of speech (religion, press, assembly, or petition)?
The amendment protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures.
What is the Fourth Amendment?
This amendment abolished slavery.
What is the 13th Amendment?
This pamphlet by Thomas Paine’s argued strongly for independence from Britain.
What is Common Sense?
This principle allows each branch to limit the others.
What are Checks and Balances?
When police search a home without proper legal justification (called this), civil liberties may be violated.
What is an unreasonable search?
This legal document allows police to search based on probable cause.
What is a search warrant?
This amendment guarantees equal protection and due process.
This founding document declared independence and listed grievances against King George III.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
This system divides power between national and state governments.
What is Federalism?
This constitutional guarantee protects fair treatment through the legal system.
What is Due Process?
Being tried twice for the same crime violates this protection.
What is Double Jeopardy?
This law banned segregation in public places and employment discrimination.
What is the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
This 1215 English document limited the king’s power and established rule of law.
What is the Magna Carta?
The Supreme Court’s power to declare laws unconstitutional.
What is Judicial Review?
An example of a time civil liberties were violated in U.S. history?
Answers will vary. Class examples include the Espionage and Sedition Acts and the Patriot Act.
Refusing to testify against yourself is this protection.
What is Self-Incrimination?
This law eliminated many barriers like literacy tests.
What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965?