A coalition was formed in hopes that all the colonies could work together without any problems. Their idea of a government was reported in a document, which was named the Articles of Confederation. The way that this document was written gave the State most of the power, while the National government was very weak in terms of power. The Founders saw that this proposal created an unequal separation of power between the State and National government. The Founders decided to come together and develop a new proposal for the government. They wrote a new a document, the Constitution, which took the place of the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution created a stronger National government, while it also divided the power almost equally with the state government. The state government would not hold as much power as the national government, but the state would take care of what the national government saw fit. This system went on to be called Federalism. The Founders saw many reasons to create a Federalist government: they wanted to control and end tyranny, allow more politic involvement, and they wanted all of the states think of new ideas to help benefit them all (“The Founders and Federalism,” 2008). Federalism was written specifically so that a person could not take overall control of the state and the Federal governments. Electing officials for both State and National government increase the chances that more citizens will join in their governments.
Three main powers are given to the National Government because of the Constitution to help create a certain balance between the two governments: Enumerated or Expressed powers, Implied Powers, and Reserved Powers. The Enumerated Powers allow the government to coin money, declare war, raise and continue armed forces, and establish a Post Office. The Implied Powers are not technically stated in the Constitution, but it gives the Congress the right to make laws that they feel are necessary for carrying out the execution of the existing powers, and other powers that are given to the United States. The Inherent Powers are also not technically stated in the Constitution, but this gives the United States the power to acquire territory. The Constitution also set aside a set of Reserved Powers. These consist of regulating trade within a state, establishing local government, and organizing elections. Civil Rights would fall under federal rights. The states misused their right and unfairly decided who would be considered equal (“The Founders and Federalism,” 2008). The Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution states in the beginning of section 1, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the Citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law” (US Const., amend. XIV).
During both cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, the Court had to make a decision whether blacks should be considered equal. The Plessy v. Ferguson case was caused because a passenger named Homer Plessy refused to sit in what was considered a “blacks only” car, which the laws that Louisiana has in place. Plessy made an appearance in front of Judge Ferguson, who argued against the Supreme Court that Plessy’s actions interfered with the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The Court came to a unanimous decision that it did not conflict with either amendment and it was ruled as “separate but equal.” The decision that was ruled by the Court on the Plessy v. Ferguson case was later overturned during the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (“Brown v. Board of Education,” 2009). The “separate but equal” decision allowed public facilities, which included schools, to be used equally by blacks and whites. As the Brown v. Board of Education case came to a close, it was decided that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” (“Brown v. Board of Education,” 2009). The central question behind both of these cases would most likely be, does the separation of races mean they both can equal?
The cases are just what the people needed to fuel the American Civil Rights Movement. It was a protest to put an end of racial segregation and discrimination against blacks. People started to resist against the segregated bathrooms or any kind of public facility through nonviolent protests. The black activists, who took part in the protests, began to see their efforts were not in vain, but they rather saw it as a movement of freedom. They saw it as coming to terms with the constant political, economic, and racial oppression that they faced and fought for years (“American Civil Rights Movement,” 2016).
“Affirmative Action policies were designed to make up for the faults of the past discrimination of blacks by giving preferences today to specific races, ethnic, and sexual groups” (Jillson 457). Ideas were formed to create a sense of hope and promise during the civil rights and the voting rights acts. Affirmative Action wanted to make up the past by giving access to training and educational programs, and other decisions that concerned any kind of job. People who participated in Affirmative Action argued that nondiscrimination was not enough to secure the complete cooperation of blacks and other minorities of the American society. They argued that differences between races was because of the two centuries of slavery. Affirmative Action started affecting schools and workplaces. “Title VII expressly prohibited discrimination in employment, forbidding any employer from granting ‘preferential treatment to any individual or to any group because of the race. . . of such an individual group’” (Jillson 458). A steel factory said that at least half of the open job positions had to go to black people, and a man named Brian Weber didn’t get the job because he was white so he sued the company for discrimination. The workplaces faced many different cases of Affirmative Action just like Weber’s case. The workplace isn’t the only place that was effected by Affirmative Action, but schools were too. The Bakke case dealt with white students, who had higher credentials than minority students, claimed that their Fourteenth Amendment had been violated. They felt that their right to equal protection of the laws and that their Civil Rights Act promise of nondiscrimination had been taken away. Chief Justice Roberts declared, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race” (Jillson 460).
America has made great progress on the subject of civil rights in the past half century, and now many people are starting to worry that the progress has stopped progressing and maybe even stopped. “In 2013, only a little more than 1 percent of Fortune 500 companies were headed by blacks. Blacks constitute about 6 percent of the STEM fields, 5 percent doctors and dentists, 4 percent of lawyers, and 3 percent of architects” (Jillson 462). Discrimination does not seem to be a problem anymore in the workplace or in schools. Blacks are starting to become a total of 11 percent in the workforce. Affirmative Action has helped with the putting an end on discrimination between races, ethnics, and sexual groups.