The United States’ slavery period was completely disturbing for the afforded Americans. They faced great discomfort and insecurity from the American government and the legal authorities. The authorities prioritized the country’s population with respect to race, class, and gender. Only White men were able to secure more living comforts than white women and other races individuals.
Different areas of the United States have faced a number of revolutionary movements, including the antebellum, Slavery-ending movements, and the freedom to live independently. The main benefits were achieved by the afforded Americans in terms of protecting their rights officially from the government. The paper’s main aim is to discuss the history of civil rights and civil liberties and how they helped Americans evolve and get their freedom.
In the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Thomas Jefferson stated that it is a universal truth and that we accept that all men are created equal. This concept is quite different from the one being implemented in the United States. Civil rights and civil liberty include the protection of an individual’s freedom, in which he is allowed to do whatever he wants, and the right not to be discriminated against with respect to race, gender, and class. The Americans were initially living in miserable conditions, and they were treated as slaves and were supposed to obey their masters. Their wishes were never considered. They were not even allowed to marry upon their choices. Before the legal implementation of the laws in favor of civil rights and civil liberties, white Americans used to keep conditions hard on their slaves. They were accused of even small damage, and their slavery was extended if the animals owned by the masters were being killed. The masters were not accused of even killing a slave, which was an uncomfortable and insecure situation for the black Americans, and they started to prepare for the revolution and eventually won the game.
Now, the afforded Americans, after the official practice of civil rights and civil liberties in the country, can secure their right to live freely without any influence from the government or local discrimination. Now the American nation is free of religious persecution and other social restrictions as they have right of individual liberties. The first officially noted civil rights movement was observed in the 1950s in approximately all parts of the United States when the African American communities demanded equal rights to be protected under the law. Many other suffering groups also added their participation.
There is no clear status of civil rights and civil liberties in the United States as it varies among different races and genders. There are many recent events of feminism and LGBT introduction to the society which have shown the doubtful response of the American nation,n which is partial acceptance on the local levels. Due to these outcomes, it could be concluded that civil rights and civil liberties are not completely implemented and practiced in society, and some time is needed to make the community and the government perform according to the basic rules of civil rights and civil liberties. The Americans had suffered since the start of the twenty-first century, but now they are secure, and in many areas, they are accepted as equal citizens of the United States, and their rights are protected as the whites.
The civil liberties according to The Bill of Rights, protects an individual from the government power. A number of amendments and bills are being passed which are helping in proper implementation of the civil liberties and civil rights. These amendments helped the local communities to be protected from the government and their unconcerned actions which could cause the problems for the American citizens.
The First Amendment allowed freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and press in which no one is bound because of his actions to present his own point of view in front of the public. The Second, third, and Fourth Amendments allowed everyone in the United States to keep arms with him for his own protection and to protect his property from an intrusion of the government and troops, as well as unreasonable search and seizure. The rest of the amendments from the fifth to the tenth are all concerned with the right to trial by adjudicators and defense from cruel and unusual sentences. These amendments are supposed to live safely in their homes.
All of the rights are implemented and bind the federal government to act against a specified individual. However, the people are still not given protection against the state government, which can perform its duties according to its choice and laws. Every state has a diversity of laws for the other state. The Americans under Obama’s presidency were encouraged to move around freely and were not bound as in the 20th century. But currently, after the start of Trump’s Presidency period, the policies have completely changed, and the whites and natives have started to point out Americans as foreigners for the American nation. The Latins and African Americans are highly victimized by it.
The Constitution has tried its best to achieve the goals of introducing and implementing The Bill of Rights, and it aimed to protect the citizens from the government’s lawless attempts against the citizens of the United States. According to many journalists and policymakers, the federal government is restricted from acting, but they mostly use the state governments to act against criminals. Many people faced serious problems and uncertain acts from the officials against them and their properties. The courts also disobeyed the rules by some specific strategies in which they implemented some of the ten amendments and not all of them, which is known as selective incorporation.
In a nutshell it can be concluded that the people from all over the United States don’t enjoy The Bill of Rights, completely. The courts are unjust in implementing the laws, and this statement could be implemented in the federal and state laws. They change the policy according to the circumstances and protect the officials from their acts against society. It is also seen that the afforded Americans face great discrimination when implementing the laws. The afforded Americans were initially living in miserable conditions, and they were treated as slaves and were supposed to obey their masters in the past and now, in the current scenario, the afforded Americans and, more prominently, the African Americans when trying to compete for a post are discriminately eliminated from the lists and the whites and more superior races are preferred. There are many private organizations where women are still paid less than men, and they are not supposed to express their problems in front of officials because of termination. The United States of America still needs much time to implement all the civil rights and civil liberty rules completely, even though they are mentioned in the Bill of Rights.
References
Wilson, J. Q., DiIulio Jr, J. J., Bose, M., & Levendusky, M. S. (2018). American government: Institutions and policies. Cengage Learning.
Finkelman, P. (Ed.). (2018). Routledge Revivals: Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (2006): Volume 1, A-F. Routledge.
Davis, D. W., & Silver, B. D. (2004). Civil liberties vs. security: Public opinion in the context of the terrorist attacks on America. American Journal of Political Science, 48(1), 28-46.
