Argumentative Essay On Civil Rights

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Civil rights are acts of the "government that are intended to protect disadvantaged classes of persons or minority groups from arbitrary, unreasonable, or discriminatory treatment." (pg.643) These rights are given to every individual that lives within the United States and it ensures that their individual rights, such as the freedoms of speech, press, religion, movement, assembly and privacy are kept valid. Civil rights also protect citizens from discrimination against religion, gender, ethnicity, race, color, age, sex, disability or political party affiliation. However, even if these were the desires of our country 's forefathers, they have not served true for many minorities in America. "The lofty words of the Declaration of Independence …show more content…

"The majority of all Americans support the concepts and philosophy of civil rights and are themselves law-abiding citizens." (pg.423) However, "a small group of white supremacists and militants have become extremely vocal and, in some cases, violent in venting their anger against politicians, lawmakers, and government." (pg.423) With these forms of hostile discrimination and prejudice, the struggle for civil rights has been fractious and problematic. There have been multiple civil rights acts, court rulings, laws, amendments and policies created to help women and minority groups that are going through the strife in obtaining their civil rights. The Thirteenth Amendment established the prohibition of slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment gave slaves proper citizenship, the Fifteenth Amendment granted African Americans the right to vote, the Nineteenth Amendment granted women 's suffrage and multiple trials such as Cherokee Nation v Georgia and Dred Scott v Sanford led to significant progress in the struggle for civil rights. Even though these progressions have been made, it has been a challenge and there are still many conflicts that have not been resolved

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