American National Government Chapters 17-22

After the Civil War, many northern states enacted "Black Codes" that forbade blacks to vote, hold office, own firearms, serve on juries, testify against whites, work in certain trades, or attend public school.

False

All children born in the United States are citizens of the nation in which their parents were born.

False

All people in the United States, whatever their immigration status, are entitled to the equal protection of the laws unless the person committed a crime.

False

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State where they were born.

False

Before the Civil War, some northern states had a grandfather clause in their voting qualifications which excluded individuals whose ancestors had not voted in the 1860s.

False

Immigrant children, as well as the American-born children of immigrants, do not have access to public schools.

False

The 15th Amendment coupled with the Plessy v. Ferguson decision opened the door for the rampant, permissive segregation of the first half of the 1900s.

True

The 24th Amendment, coupled with the Civil Rights Act of 1957, removed the final blocks for voting for minorities or persons of color.

True

The Civil Rights Act was the first Civil Rights legislation enacted since 1875.

True

The right to vote is a privilege, not a right.

False

A state law which prevents 18-year-olds from voting if they are not attending school full-time violates which Amendments?

14th and 26th

The Civil Rights Act and which amendment federalized voting laws, removing the authority from the states to create and enforce their own voter laws?

24th

Which Amendment became a necessary addition to the Constitution to guarantee the implementation of the 15th Amendment?

24th

The lack of specific voter qualifications in the 26th Amendment allowed those states wanting to enforce segregation the necessary loopholes to do so.

False

Until the enactment of the 26th Amendment, the standard voting age across the United States was 25.

False

A state that relegates minorities to second-class citizenship by depriving them of rights or responsibilities held by other citizens of that state is fair game for congressional legislation.

True

After the Civil War, it was not uncommon to find criminal laws in southern states often specified harsher punishments for blacks or gave judges latitude to engage in racially discriminatory sentencing.

True

After the Civil War, southern states still controlled setting voter qualifications which permitted the creation of laws severely limiting and excluding black Americans from voting.

True

By empowering Congress to enforce citizenship requirements and to enact all laws "necessary and proper" to that end, the Fourteenth Amendment authorizes Congress to preempt laws that undermine blacks' constitutionally protected status as citizens of the state where they reside.

True

Justice Harlan, wrote in the dissent of Plessy v. Ferguson that the Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.

True

Northerners understood that citizenship included the right to a passport, a claim to protection by the government, and other rights, which today we generally call civil liberties.

True

One of the issues the Supreme Court decided in Obergefell v. Hodges was whether the Fourteenth Amendment required a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state.

True

The Supreme Court held in the Plessy v. Ferguson case that segregation was allowed as long as the facilities in question were equal.

True

The first sentence of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, "[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside," overturns the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford that blacks could never be citizens of the United States.

True

Until the enactment of the 26th Amendment in 1951, the standard voting age across the United States was different in each state.

True