The Influence Of Constitutional Rights: Lillian Herman

During the next few years the Bill of Rights began to be accepted by the

In 1950 the emergence of the Second Red Scare’s driving force, Senator Joseph McCarthy, appeared and gave a speech proclaiming that America will soon be lost to communism if the people do not stand up to combat it. He revealed that night a list of 205 people working for Soviet Russia in the United States’ State Department whose intentions were to mold America from the inside to become a socialist nation. (Fitzgerald, p. 14) It was thanks to this newfound hysteria that began to break out thanks to McCarthy’s claims that the HUAC and other like-minded organizations began to gain momentum during this time period.

The bill of rights is a popular document that was not originally in the US constitution, but anti federalists wanted a bill of rights really bad because supposedly they were afraid of a strong central government. They did not want another king so some states refused the constitution until there was a bill of rights. Along with being afraid of a central government they wanted a limited government so that government could not control them. The anti federalists also thought the government would not protect their individual rights enough so they wanted a bill of rights.

“Miller also observes the tremendous forces that mere accusation had at this time, something that was evident as well in the McCarthy witch-hunts. A man’s career could be ruined if he were merely asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?””

During the early twentieth century the protection of civil liberties gained importance in the American opinion. In contrast to the many casualties of World War I, the Progressivism faith, that had an active federal government, had taken over the national purpose and deepened the enjoyment of freedom in the hearts of Americans. In the eyes of the Progressives, Prohibition, wartime and postwar repression, and the pro-business policies of the 1920’s were all things of how public power could go awry. This created a new appreciation for civil liberties as an essential factor of American freedom. The 1920’s was the birth of the logical concept of civil liberties and the start of important legal protection of freedom of speech against the U.S. government.

The promises of the American Revolution were that people would not have their civil liberties violates and people were born to be free and equal what ever classes you were in. It promised that the social levels would be abolished with assigned new roles and rights to the lower level. The people could control the government, which means that the laws and the system of the government were completely democratic. Besides that, it’s the government’s job to protect the right of people. People can change a government whenever it didn’t meet the needs of them.

In addition to limiting freedom of speech through the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Smith Act, Congress continued on a witch-hunt to remove all dissenters in any way they could, often charging and prosecuting individuals based on circumstantial evidence. This period, often referred to as the Second Red Scare, followed World War II and came as the United States entered the Cold War, was a time of much paranoia. One of the many cases during this period that showed how little evidence was used against individuals to incriminate them was the case of Annie Lee Moss. According to a F.B.I informant, Ms. Moss was a “card carrying, dues paying” member of the Communist party and was brought to testify before McCarthy’s committee, for she was “alleged to have examined and correct secret, encoded oversee messages.” (The McCarthy Years)

In the book, selective incorporation is defined as the, “Process of applying some of the rights in the Bill of Rights to the states to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Losco 65).” In other words, selective incorporation is a doctrine that protects the rights, privileges and immunities of the citizens in the United States from state laws. It was created because of the complex debate that comes in the heart of the Constitution itself. A major issue since the beginning of the government was the relationship between the individual states and the national government, and was a heated debate at the Philadelphia convention which produced the Constitution. Additionally, as we learned earlier in history classes

While HUAC’s actions were not laudable, it paradoxically had the best interests of the American public in mind, including protecting American civil rights. Insofar as Communism seemed to threaten the American way of life, HUAC’s attempts to root out Communists reflected a concern for American civil rights. The authoritarian nature of the Communist Party, as described by some, seems to support the idea of a Communist threat to American ideals. As a friendly witness before HUAC, for example, former Communist Party member Elia Kazan confessed that he left the party because “I had enough regimentation, enough of being told what to think and say and do, enough of their habitual violation of the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed” (406). In his testimony, Kazan portrays the Communist party as a suppressor of civil rights (“daily practices,” such as the right to “think”

This occured in the 1950’s, when various Americans were questioned before a congrssional panel.(McCarthyism, 1) Senator Joseph McCarthy was to blame for this incedent.(McCarthyism, 1) Safegaurds promised by the Constitution were destroyed(Skohrecker 1). McCarthy made himself seem like America’s only salvation against the communist spies that were said to be among the United States Army.(McCarthyism, 1) In the after war years America was in fear of the communist. On February 9, 1950, McCarthy gave a speech and proclaimed there was 205 card-carrying members of the communist party who worked for the U.S. McCarthy accused and questioned very important people.(McCarthyism, 1)

In the mid to late 1700's, the women of the United States of America had practically no rights. When they were married, the men represented the family, and the woman could not do anything without consulting the men. Women were expected to be housewives, to raise their children, and thinking of a job in a factory was a dream that was never thought impossible. But, as years passed, women such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Blackwell began to question why they were at home all day raising the children, and why they did not have jobs like the men. This happened between the years of 1776 and 1876, when the lives and status of Northern middle-class woman was changed forever. Women began to

she urged women to not put the fate of society in the hands of the

So the impact of the HUAC was playing a substance role in established the Hollywood and in blacklisting. So the blacklisting with HUAC was a small job they had which was to review the outside people. Which in return the investigation to many artist and entertainers including the Hollywood ten. Then comes McCarthy who was “the senate permanent subcommittee on investigations of the senator committee on the government operation and became its chairman in 1953”. So people would get the 5th amendment to use because the heat got rough, but most people thought that they were trying to hide something if they did that. Now Wood would ask the stupidest question to hide up the 5th amendment’s like “Do you think it would have had as good an effect upon the morale of the American people a=to preach a doctrine to them that Russia was on the very of collapse”? Which added up to people not getting heard when people were thinking the most unthinkable to people that any people would take up arm in the name of Eastland to go against anybody. Then people were saying that they didn’t understand how to live in a totalitarian dictatorship. Where Martin had died and the HUAC would have been attacking the left wing artiste group to harm them. Which implies that because of all of this embarrassment they had to

The American Revolution played a significant role in lives of nearly every person in America. Most men left their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters in charge of farms and businesses when they left to fight in the Patriot armies. There were many men, who had no farms or businesses, left their women with absolutely nothing to fall back on. This led to a significant increase in the population of impoverished women in several cities and towns. Due to the ongoing war, there were many price increases that these women simply could not afford. Some would riot and loot for food, while others would lead popular protests. “In New Jersey and Staten Island, women launched

This report reviews and analyzes individual rights afforded by the constitution and their applicability to the suit for wrongful termination in the case of Korb versus Raytheon. The specific constitutional rights under review are the freedom of speech, freedom of information and challenges associated with employment law. Lawrence Korb, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense and current employee of Raytheon, a large equipment manufacturing company for the U.S. military was terminated after making public statements criticizing defense spending and calling for a reduction of Navy’s fleet. Raytheon, a manufacturer of