The first eight questions can be
answered with a phrase or a few sentences. You should be able to answer them in
the space below each.
1). Under Mill’s ‘harm principle,’
on what grounds can the government restrict an individual’s
liberty?
2) According to lecture and based
on the discussion of civil liberties in American
Government, does the Constitution clearly accept the Mill’s harm principle
as the standard for deciding whether laws infringe on citizens’ rights?
No.
3) Give an example of a positive
liberty and a negative liberty, according to lecture:
negative: freedom of speech, expression, etc. ;
positive: right to vote, participate in politics
4) What are two types of unprotected speech?
Commercial, obscene, libel,
slander,
5) What does a writ of habeas
corpus require?
The government must produce an
arrested person in court for charges; ‘you have the body’
6) How did the Supreme Court
decision Brown v. Board of Education
in 1954 affect the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision?
Brown overturned Plessy; or Brown made ‘separate but equal’ education
unconstitutional
7) According to American Government, what were at least
two of the voting barriers used in the South to keep African-American citizens
from voting before 1964?
White primary; poll tax; literacy
test; grandfather clause
8) List two provisions of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964:
prohibited discrimination in employment; public accommodations;
voting registration; created the EEOC
The next two questions should be
answered in one or two paragraphs, using complete sentences.
9) Based
on lecture and the reading, explain how Justice Douglass’ opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut established a
right to privacy and explain how it was applied to the issue of abortion in Roe v. Wade.
They should get most elements of
this, but they don’t need all to get full credit:
-
Douglass argued that a
right to privacy exists as a penumbra surrounding the enumerated rights in the
Bill of Rights.
-
Freedom from warrant-less search and seizure,
freedom to assemble and petition, the right against self-incrimination all
assume some underlying right to privacy, or right to be left alone from
government interference.
-
The Ninth amendment,
which reserves rights to the people, could include a right to privacy.
-
In Roe v. Wade the
Court ruled that the decision to terminate a pregnancy was a private one and
that government could not interfere with it, at least in early stages of a
pregnancy
10) In Letter from
-
Socratic thought: King
sought to create tension, as Socrates did, to reveal myths and untruths; he
practiced civil disobedience as S. did;
-
Christian ideas: the
notion of a just and unjust laws derives in part from Christian teachings; an
unjust law is no law at all (Augustine); a just law squares man’s laws with
God’s laws (Aquinas);
-
-
Positive liberty: King is
demanding right to participate and vote, a positive liberty. Demands dignity
and equality of respect for African-Americans, so they can achieve moral and
civic self-realization, moral autonomy.