civil liberties

Examples of civil liberties in the following topics:

• Individualism

  • Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labor, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right to privacy, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association, and the right to marry and have a family.
  • Civil libertarianism is not a complete ideology; rather, it is a collection of views on the specific issues of civil liberties and civil rights.
  • Because of this, a civil libertarian outlook is compatible with many other political philosophies, and civil libertarianism is found on both the right and left in modern politics.

• Civil Liberties in Wartime

  • Congress used the Espionage and Sedition Acts to stamp out war opposition by curbing civil liberties.
  • One of the first victims of nearly every American war is the First Amendment, which guarantees civil liberties encompassing some of our most essential democratic freedoms.
  • Police and judicial action, private vigilante groups, and public hysteria compromised the civil liberties of many Americans who disagreed with Wilson's war policies.
  • Ohio in 1969, make it unlikely that similar legislation restricting civil liberties would be considered constitutional today.
  • Critique the Alien, Sedition, and Espionage Acts in terms of their effects on civil liberties.

• The NAACP

  • The NAACP, which was founded in 1909, advocates for full civil liberties and an end to racial discrimination and violence.
  • Most Black people in the US were descendants of people who had lived in slavery in the US, and particularly in the South they experienced legal segregation, limitations on civil rights and liberties, and high rates of violence including lynching.
  • Du Bois was a scholar and activist committed to full civil rights for all people.
  • This group of Black activists and scholars called for full civil liberties and an end to racial discrimination.

• The First Amendment

  • The First Amendment to the US Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights, and protects core American civil liberties.
  • The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights and protects American civil liberties.
  • Opposition to the ratification of the Constitution was partly based on the Constitution's lack of adequate guarantees for civil liberties.
  • However, the US Bill of Rights established more liberties than the English Bill of Rights.
  • Compare and contrast civil rights with civil liberties with respect to the First Amendment

• Liberalism

  • Liberalism is a broad political ideology or worldview founded on the ideas of liberty and equality.
  • It advocates civil liberties with a limited government under the rule of law, private property, and belief in laissez-faire economic policy.
  • At that time conservatives adopted the Classic Liberal beliefs in protecting economic civil liberties.
  • Conversely social liberals adopted the Classical Liberal belief in defending social civil liberties.
  • Neither ideology adopted the pure Classical Liberal belief that government exists to protect both social & economic civil liberties.

• Baron de Montesquieu

  • In this political treatise, Montesquieu pleaded in favor of a constitutional system of government and the separation of powers, the ending of slavery, the preservation of civil liberties and the law, and the idea that political institutions ought to reflect the social and geographical aspects of each community.
  • He distinguishes this view of liberty from two other, misleading views of political liberty.
  • The first is the view that liberty consists in collective self-government—i.e. that liberty and democracy are the same.
  • Generally speaking, establishing political liberty requires two things: the separation of the powers of government and the appropriate framing of civil and criminal laws so as to ensure personal security.
  • Pursuant to this requirement to frame civil and criminal laws appropriately to ensure political liberty.

• The Rights of Englishmen

  • "The rights of Englishmen" refers to unwritten constitutional rights and liberties, originating in Britain peaking in the Enlightenment.
  • "The rights of Englishmen" is a concept used to describe a tradition of unwritten constitutional rights and liberties, originating in Britain, from which many Anglo-American declarations of rights have drawn inspiration.
  • As a social contract, therefore, Magna Carta represented a specific limit on arbitrary or despotic power and a protection of the people's rights and liberties.
  • Locke's political theory was founded on a social contract theory: that in a state of nature, all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend his "life, health, liberty, or possessions. " However, Locke argued, as it is more rational to live in an organized society where labor is divided and civil conflicts could be decided without violence, governments were established to protect the "life, health, liberty, and possessions" of men.
  • Magna Carta is one of the major documents in British history that set forth legal precedents that would later be interpreted as protecting the civil rights of English subjects

• The Language of Liberty

  • The American "language of liberty" refers to individuals' right to life, liberty and property, and the duty to participate in civic affairs.
  • The American language of liberty is a concept deeply rooted in the Anglo-American colonial experience as well as the American Revolution.
  • Broadly, the "language of liberty" includes widespread political participation and the duty of the citizen to safeguard against arbitrary despotism; the right of citizens to life and liberty, and the Bill of Rights' protections from politically corrupted governance.
  • The language of liberty, significantly, did not apply to slaves, who were deemed as chattel property.
  • Public colonial elections were events in which all free white males were expected to participate in order to demonstrate proper civic pride; public office attracted many talented young men of ambition to civil service.

• The Twenty-Seven Amendments of the U.S. Constitution

  • The twenty-seven amendments serve two purposes: to protect the liberties of the people and to change original codes from the constitution.
  • These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property.
  • The 14th specifies the post-Civil War requirements and notes that freed slaves are citizens.
  • The Bill of Rights are the first 10 of 27 amendements to the Constitution, and serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property.

• The Civil War Amendments

  • The Civil War Amendments protected equality for emancipated slaves by banning slavery, defining citizenship, and ensuring voting rights.
  • Known collectively as the Civil War Amendments, they were designed to ensure the equality for recently emancipated slaves.
  • It also confirmed the right to due process, life, liberty, and property.
  • It banned any person who had engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S. from holding civil or military office.
  • These methods were employed around the country to undermine the Civil War Amendments and set the stage for Jim Crow conditions and for the Civil Rights movement.