POS 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Minersville School District V. Gobitis, Peyote, Civil Liberties
POS 110 Notes – Civil Liberties
Civil Rights v Civil Liberties
• Civil rights
o Refers to equal treatment by the government
o Central rights necessary to ensure full participation in the political and civil life of a
society
o Guarentees of political equality
• Civil liberties
o Personal freedoms
o Protected by constitutional provisions and laws from certain types of government
interference
o Bill of rights = 1st 10 amendments
Origins of the Bill of Rights
• Constitutional convention of 1787 concluded without a bill of rights
• Federalists argued for a bill of rights
• Anti-federalists argued against a bill of rights
Brief History of the Bill of Rights 1833
• Limited actions of national/federal government – not state
• 14th amendment (1868) changed this
o Incorporates the bill of rights to the states
o Also called nationalizing
14th Amendment
• Citizens
• No state shall make or enforce any law that abridges privileges and immunities
• Due process
• Equal protection of the laws
1st Amendment
• Congress shall make no law
• 2 parts
o Establishment clause
▪ Separation of church and state
▪ Prevents and official church
• Government can aid religious institutions as long as it does not favor
some over others
• Wall of separation
o Lemon test
▪ Government involvement must have a secular purpose
▪ Its effect is neither to advance nor to inhibit others
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