Mikayla DiDonato Miller AP U.S. Gov
A.P. U.S. Government and Politics
Summer Reading Assignment
Earlier this month on August 6th, the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act generated a reminder of the progress the United States has made in regards to discrimination, specifically against African Americans after several years of unfair and shameful treatment. This historical act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, overcoming legal barriers at state and local events which had earlier prevented African Americans from practicing their right to vote through the 15th Amendment, which is found in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution of the United States. Recently, current African American President,
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If certain racial groups aren’t registering to vote due to a lack of effort and determination, then the Voting Rights Act will continue to go downhill, rather than receiving the chance to be updated. People must see this as a large priority by focusing on the laws, as well as the habits of citizenship.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/12/politics/obama-voting-rights-act/index.html
Throughout many generations, American citizens have categorized themselves into two separate groups in relation to abortion, which has become a large complication in today’s society. Every day, protesters throughout the nation are either fighting for pro-life or pro-choice views on abortion. Disagreement between both groups occurs often, pushing further states into passing laws to restrict abortion, such as parental notification, waiting periods and ultrasound requirements. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the first federal law banning abortion procedures and allowed politicians to interfere in the private health care decisions of women and their families. This federal abortion ban criminalizes abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy, which doctors claim are usually the safest and most effective way of protecting women 's health. Although abortion is currently legal in the United States, individual states have the ability to regulate and limit the use of abortion due to Article IV in the Constitution, which states that “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
The United States has been divided now over the issue of abortion for thirty-three years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973. As of today, over 45 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Pro-choice advocates hold these 45 million abortions as being 45 million times women have exercised their right to choose to get pregnant and to choose to control their own bodies. To pro-life, or anti-abortion, advocates these 45 million abortions constitute 45 million murders, a genocide of human life in the United States propagated by the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. The debate over abortion in the United States is thus a debate of two extremes. One side argues from the personal liberty of the mother. The
Soon after passage of the Voting Rights Act, federal examiners were conducting voter registration, and black voter registration began a sharp increase. The cumulative effect of the Supreme Court’s decisions, Congress’ enactment of voting rights legislation, and the ongoing efforts of concerned private citizens and the Department of Justice, has been to restore the right to vote guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by
Chapter 7: Government and Politics in the United States I. The Organization of the American Government Before we go any further, I’d like to sum up my understanding about the U.S government. The head of the U.S government is called the Constitution, with its purpose of keeping the government from doing bad things. It is divided into three separate branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The Legislative branch, or the Congress, is the lawmaking branch. The Executive branch, with the President as the head, responsible for carrying out laws.
The voting rights act of 1965 was designed to prohibit discrimination based on race, and requires certain jurisdictions to prove bilingual assistance to language minority voters. The act banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the nonwhite population had not registered to vote. Still voting rights gave African American voters the legal means to challenge voting restrictions and vastly improved voter turnout. In Mississippi alone, voter turnout among blacks increased from 6 percent in 1964 to 59 percent in 1969. When the law was first passed, they made the blacks take a test to be able to vote. (history.com). Since 1965 the voting rights act has protected
In the early years of the United States, voting laws were very strict and only a select few people were able to vote. In 1776, only people who owned land were permitted to vote. Most people in this category were white males over the age of 21. This continued for many decades: in 1790 the Naturalization Law passed. It explicitly stated that only “free white” immigrants can become naturalized citizens. This gave only free white people the right to vote- very little progress was being made.
“This act flows from a clear and simple wrong, its only purpose is to right that wrong. Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify. The right is one which no American, true to our principles, can deny.... It is not just a question of guilt, although there is that. It is that men cannot live with a lie and not be stained by it, “said the president (Equal Citizenship and the Individual Right to Vote). The Voting Rights Act was “one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom”—a law that, very exclusively, aimed to break down the legal barriers at the state and local governments’ level of authority that prohibited African Americans from exercising their constitutional right to vote.
Government has been a necessity for man for as long as recorded history, and this is because mankind cannot effectively regulate themselves. In the words of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary” (51). That is not the case in today 's society, nor will it ever be under those circumstances. Since government is vital to the success of the country as a whole, what way, size, or fashion would be the most efficient and beneficial to the people? The United States government is large in size, influence, and power. The size of the government has become too large and should be restricted to a smaller government because it is costly, often inefficient, too powerful, and usurping states rights.
Politics are something that affects our lives forever. Since the United States in a democracy, we the people get a vote and a voice in politics. Therefore, it is important to be an educated voter. The time to start learning about and getting involved with politics is while you are young. The very first thing you should do when you turn 18 is register to vote, it is the fastest and easiest way to involve yourself in politics. If this isn’t quite enough of you are more interested in politics, there are a variety of organizations they promote youth involvement in politics. Each are similar in the fact that they promote youth involvement; however, the way the two approach the task is very different. The first I will discuss is called Rock the Vote, the second is Boys and Girls State. If you are passionate about something and want to make it know, there is always the option to start your our group to raise awareness. You can use that club to encourage people to vote one way of another on a subject.
In the United States there are two major government parties. The Republican and the Democratic parties. Both parties started with the right to ratify the constitution. The parties both started as the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists. The Democrats which were led by Thomas Jefferson were known as the Democratic Republicans. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828, In the history of the Presidential Elections of the U.S. fifteen presidents have held office being Democrats. The Republican party on the other hand which was founded by Alexander Hamilton was formed in 1854, having 18 presidents held office as Republicans. The major parties are organized
On January 27th 2017, exactly one week after being inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States; Donald Trump signed an executive order immediately suspending America’s refugee program, and barring entry from any people from the following seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. This decision was immediately met with global outrage, with many people and politicians alike lambasting President Trump, labeling his order as ‘discriminatory’ and ‘un-American’. Though it is easy to be consumed by the social dogma presented in today’s media, I think it is important for people to take a step back and view situations such as this with an impartial mind, blocking out the conjecture, and simply focusing on the
Abortion has been a complex social issue in the United States ever since restrictive abortion laws began to appear in the 1820s. By 1965, abortions had been outlawed in the U.S., although they continued illegally; about one million abortions per year were estimated to have occurred in the 1960s. (Krannich 366) Ultimately, in the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, it was ruled that women had the right to privacy and could make an individual choice on whether or not to have an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. (Yishai 213)
The majority of Americans have become apathetic when politics or the federal government are brought up in either the news, inside classrooms, or amongst friends and relatives. Nevertheless, people tend to have an ignorant state of mind towards politics and become so unaware about what the federal government does on a daily basis. Not to mention, Americans refuse to accept that the federal government has people working in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, recognizing and debating their top issues they have back in their districts. Congress issues many bills and legislates a numerous amount of laws that are appropriate for the problems that the American people deal with on a daily basis. Moreover, the ability to improve the Constitution by amending it has helped cooperate with Congress by fulfilling the needs of the American people. In the end, not only were states given rights by the Constitution, with the addition of the Declaration, which gave alienable rights to each American. Thus, American citizens apply to Civil Liberties; specifying how each individual has freedoms that are guaranteed to them, and no higher power has the right to restrain these freedoms.
Our politicians are being bribed to influence what laws are being made in this country at a federal level. Due to the current situation in American politics corruption has become an accepted form of conducting business in the political world. “Since the implication of citizen’s united in 2010 we have seen a dramatic turn in the direction of politics” (Silver). This is because now, any donor is allowed to contribute undisclosed amounts to any political campaign. The argument against this is that the politician running the campaign will feel the need to return the favor to the donor once they are in office. Statistics show this to be true. According to a twenty-year study done by Northwestern University this is true, in fact the study found that “only the top ten percent of earners in America are represented adequately by congress” (Silver).
Abortion is a controversial topic that has plagued the country for decades. Even after the 7-2 Supreme Court trial (Roe vs. Wade) made it legal for women to choose to get abortions. This decision was based off the right of privacy coupled with the agreement between the woman and the state. Due to this decision abortion rights vary from state to state, in fact, about 85% of United States counties do not provide abortion services. Even though, abortion is ten times safer than the actual process of giving birth and 68,000 women died from resorting to “back-alley abortions.” Knowing all this, there are still two main groups arguing
The political system of the United States of America is based upon democratic and republican principles, giving birth to the representative democracy that is our government today. Over the many years since the founding of the nation and our first president, George Washington, politics has separated itself into factions, more commonly called parties, based on common and shared beliefs, religion, and ideals. The development of these parties has encouraged corruption to run rampant throughout the government, and this corruption has lead to a decrease in efficiency and effectiveness in the government as well. Parties have become increasingly polarized as well, drawing closer to the extremes rather than a more moderate, common ground. This increased polarization has created an almost unbreachable ideological gap within the members of congress, and any sort of collaboration has been made impossible by this new trend of loyal opposition, the opposition of one bill or piece of legislature simply because the other party drafted it. This begs the question of the genesis of such a divide, and from this inquiry it is discovered that there have been three major contributions to this party polarization: redistricting methods, also known as gerrymandering, the development of super PACs, and slanted Supreme Court decisions. This investigation will explore the ways in which and the extent that redistricting methods, super PACs, and Supreme Court decisions have