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Government Chapter 5
Vocabulary
15
History
12th Grade
10/18/2009

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Term
Civil rights
Definition
Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.
Term
Fourteenth Amendment
Definition
The constitutional amendment adopted after the Civil War that states, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Term
Equal Rights Amendment
Definition
A constitutional amendment passed by Congress in 1978 and sent to the state legislatures for ratification, stating that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Despite substantial public support and an extended deadline, the amendment failed to acquire the necessary support from three-fourths of the state legislatures.
Term
Fifteenth Amendment
Definition
The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans.
Term
poll taxes
Definition
Small taxes, levied on the right to vote, that often fell due at a time of year when poor African-American sharecroppers had the least cash on hand. This method was used by most Southern states to exclude African Americans from voting registers.
Term
comparable worth
Definition
The issue raised when women who hold traditionally female jobs are paid less than men for working at jobs requiring comparable skill.
Term
equal protection of the laws
Definition
Part of the Fourteenth Amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent “protection” to all people. As one member of Congress said during debate on the amendment, it should provide “equal protection of life, liberty, and property” to all a state’s citizens.
Term
white primary
Definition
One of the means used to discourage African-American voting that permitted political parties in the heavily Democratic South to exclude African Americans from ___________, thus depriving them of a voice in the real contests. Declared  unconstitutional in 1941.
Term
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Definition
A law passed in 1990 that requires employers and public facilities to make “reasonable accommodations” for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment.
Term
affirmative action
Definition
A policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment of members of some previously disadvantaged group.
Term
Thirteenth Amendment
Definition
The constitutional amendment passed after the Civil War that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude.
Term
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Definition
The law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbade many forms of job discrimination. See also civil rights movement and civil rights policies.
Term
Suffrage
Definition
The legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the Fifteenth Amendment, to women by the Nineteenth Amendment, and to people over the age of 18 by the Twenty-sixth Amendment.
Term
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Definition
A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage. Under the law, federal registrars were sent to Southern states and counties that had long histories of discrimination; as a result, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African-American elected officials increased dramatically.
Term
Nineteenth Amendment
Definition
The constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote.
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