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Civil Liberties And Civil Rights

Decent Essays

For many centuries humans have wanted to live a life in peace, according to their beliefs, or according to what someone of higher power can do best for them. The United States has gone from being ruled by a king to a lose constitution to finally a constitution that has lasted many years. This constitution has gone through many changes in order to protect the rights of U.S. citizens. Moreover, these changes have occurred by much insistence and court cases from the people. Out of these changes, civil rights and civil liberties have erupted in order to protect the lives of citizens even more. Who we are as citizens of the United States can be characterized by the concept of civil rights and civil liberties, the idea that the constitution …show more content…

The Bill of Rights limits the power of the government, meaning the government cannot take away the freedoms outlined in it. The constitution protects the major rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights with the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment, which was ratified in 1968, protects citizens against state infringements of the rights and liberties guaranteed in the constitution; states equal protection of the laws. In the case of Palko vs Connecticut, a man named Frank Palko was convicted of second degree and first degree murder in the same murder case. This lead him to appeal to the Supreme Court on the basis that his case was that of double jeopardy, which was prohibited by the fifth amendment. Although the case could be considered double jeopardy, the court decided it was not one of the provisions of the Bill of Rights incorporated in the 14th amendment. It took the court to nationalize the constitutional protection against double jeopardy. Furthermore, this case established the principle of selective incorporation, which was the process by which different protections in the Bill of Rights were incorporated into the 14th amendment, granting citizens protection from state and national governments. After 1961, most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights were incorporated into the 14th amendment and applied to the states and the national government. The 14th

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