civil rights

(noun)

legal or moral entitlements which are expressly enumerated in the U.S. Constitution and are considered to be unquestionable, deserved by all people under all circumstances, especially without regard to race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender and disabilities

Related Terms

Examples of civil rights in the following topics:

  • The Civil Rights Acts

    • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed forms of discrimination against women and minorities.
    • In a civil rights speech on June 11, 1963, President John F.
    • The Civil Rights Act was followed by the Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Johnson in 1965.
    • Kennedy, who called for the passage of a civil rights bill.
    • Compare and contrast the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act

  • Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement

    • The Civil Rights Movement aimed to outlaw racial discrimination against black Americans, particularly in the South.
    • The African American Civil Rights Movement refers to the social movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against black Americans and restoring voting rights to them.
    • The Civil Rights Movement generally lasted from 1955 to 1968 and was particularly focused in the American South.
    • Board of Education decision in 1954, civil rights organization broadened their strategy to emphasize "direct action"—primarily boycotts, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, marches and similar tactics that relied on mass mobilization, nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.
    • Civil Rights Movement.

  • Civil Rights of the Elderly

    • The elderly, or senior citizens, are vulnerable to civil rights abuses due to a propensity for sickness, disability, and poverty.
    • Because of a propensity for illness, disability, and lack of employment, the elderly are faced with unique civil rights challenges.
    • Discuss the civil rights issues that affect the elderly in the United States

  • Civil Rights of People with Disabilities

    • Disabled Americans face limited access to public places and institutions that civil rights legislation seeks to address.
    • To address these concerns, a disability rights movement has introduced a range of legislation and law suits.
    • The disability rights movement became organized in the 1960s, concurrent with the African-American civil rights movement and feminist movement.
    • Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the disability rights act gained increasing visibility and a number of policy successes, including increased accessibility of public places and increased resources for people with developmental disabilities.
    • The act provided comprehensive civil rights protections modeled after the Civil Rights Act.

  • The Rights of the Accused

    • An important postwar case was the Civil Rights Cases (1883), in which the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was at issue.
    • The rights of the accused, include the right to a fair trial; due process; the right to seek redress or a legal remedy; and rights of participation in civil society and politics such as freedom of association, the right to assemble, the right to petition, the right of self-defense, and the right to vote.
    • Civil and political rights form the original and main part of international human rights.
    • Civil and political rights are not codified to be protected, although most democracies worldwide do have formal written guarantees of civil and political rights.
    • Civil rights are considered to be natural rights.

  • Individualism

    • Individualism is a philosophy that stresses the value and rights of the individual vis-a-vis society and government.
    • Individualism, sometimes closely associated with certain variants of anarchism or liberalism, typically takes it for granted that individuals know best and that public authority or society has no right to interfere in a person's decision-making process, unless a very compelling need to do so arises (and maybe not even in those circumstances).
    • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.
    • The US Bill of Rights drew many of its First Amendment provisions from other countries' bill of rights, such as the English Bill of Rights.
    • Compare and contrast civil rights with civil liberties with respect to the First Amendment

  • The Seventh Amendment

    • The Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the original Bill of Rights, codifies the right to a jury trial in certain civil cases, and asserts that cases may not be re-examined by another court.
    • In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

  • Civil Law and Criminal Law

    • Civil law differs from criminal law, which emphasizes punishment rather than dispute resolution.
    • The law relating to civil wrongs and quasi-contract is part of civil law.
    • The objectives of civil law are different from other types of law.
    • In civil law there is the attempt to right a wrong, honor an agreement, or settle a dispute.
    • Puerto Rico, a former Spanish colony, is also a civil law jurisdiction of the United States.