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5: The Constitution, Amendments, and Supreme Court Decisions

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    124362
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    Topic 5 explores the evolving nature of the United States Constitution through amendments, landmark Supreme Court decisions, social and political movements, and dramatic historical events. The chapters in Topic 5 cover the history and the present-day realities of core constitutional issues around the struggles of women, people of color, and individuals with disabilities to gain civil rights and civil liberties in our nation's democratic system.

    Supporting Question:

    • How has the content and interpretation of the Constitution evolved over time?

    • 5.1: The Necessary and Proper Clause
      The role of the necessary and proper clause of the U.S. Constitution in the nation's government. A brief history of the use and origins of the clause.
    • 5.2: Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
      A look at some non-Bill of Rights amendments to the Constitution, including the 18th and 21st Amendments (which began and ended Prohibition, respectively), and the decades-long attempts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Asking what other amendments could be created, and how they would be created.
    • 5.3: Constitutional Issues Related to the Civil War, Federal Power, and Individual Rights
      Important topics surrounding slavery and African American rights from the Civil War era, including the Missouri Compromise, the Dred Scott Case, and Juneteenth. The Underground Railroad and the role played by individuals like Harriet Tubman and William Still. The question of changing U.S. currency designs to depict leaders in the movements for women's and civil rights.
    • 5.4: Civil Rights and Equal Protection for Race, Gender, and Disability
      Overview of several important pieces of late 20th-century legislation that expanded civil rights for people of color (the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Act of 1965), for women (Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1970), and for people with disabilities (the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990).
    • 5.5: Marbury v. Madison and the Principle of Judicial Review
      The Supreme Court's power of judicial review, and how it was established by Chief Justice John Marshall. What can happen when Supreme Court decisions clash with the orders of the President, as demonstrated by the Trail of Tears. The impact of dissents issued by Supreme Court justices on how laws are understood and applied.
    • 5.6: Significant Supreme Court Decisions
      Landmark Supreme Court decisions in three major areas: First Amendment freedoms, due process and equal protection, and issues where the rights of individuals clash with standards held by wider society.

    Thumbnail: Preamble to the Constitution, by Gordon Johnson


    This page titled 5: The Constitution, Amendments, and Supreme Court Decisions is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Robert W. Maloy & Torrey Trust (EdTech Books) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.