Landmark Decisions of the Supreme Court Worksheet 3,

1. The 14th Amendment guarantees that all people will be treated equally under the law.

2.Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the practice of segregation as long as the separate facilities were “equal,” whereas the

decision in Brown asserted that segregated schools were “inherently unequal.”

3. To the Topeka Board of Education, “equal” meant providing similar buildings, transportation, curricula, and qualifi ed teachers to all students. To the Browns, “equal” meant being integrated into society at large, with no respect to their race.

Landmark Decisions of the Supreme

Court 2

1. Linda Brown’s parents thought that the segregated school system in Topeka violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which says that all people should be treated equally under the law.

2. (a) The district court ruled in favor of the board of education.

(b) It said that “separate but equal” segregated schools were acceptable under the law. According to the district court, the segregated facilities were mostly equal, so Linda Brown’s constitutional rights were not violated.

3. The Browns claimed that segregated schools were not equal and could never be equal.

4. The question that the Supreme Court had to answer was as follows: Does the segregation of children in public schools on the basis of race take away the equal protection of the law from minority children? In other words, is segregated education constitutional?

5. (a) The Plessy v. Ferguson decision made it legal for the school system to be segregated. (b) The decision of the federal district court was based on the “separate but equal” doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson. The Supreme Court ruling in the Brown case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. This meant there was no longer a constitutional basis for segregation.

6. The Court made it clear that segregated schools cannot be made equal. Even if everything is the same in both the white and nonwhite schools, the fact that they are segregated makes them unequal.

7. The Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education removed the constitutional basis for segregation. The ruling led to other court decisions that eventually ended all forms of legal racial segregation.

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CHAPTER 21

Test A

Key Terms 1. a 2. g 3. d 4. e 5. b 6. c 7. i 8. f 9. h 10. j Multiple Choice 11. c 12. b 13. a 14. c 15. d 16. c 17. a 18. b 19. c 20. a Document-Based Question

21. Immigrants are descibed as “tired,” “poor,” “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” “wretched refuse,” “homeless,” and “tempest-tossed.” Students should note that at the time this poem was written, the major source of immigration was shifting. Until the 1880s, most immigrants had come from the countries of northern and western Europe. The “new immigration” from the 1880s onward came mostly from southern and eastern Europe.

Critical Thinking

22. A good answer should note that in the early years of the republic, the government made little attempt to control immigration. There was plenty of land, and people were needed to settle and work the land and to provide labor for expanding industry. By the late 1800s, however, labor was no longer in short supply, and Congress began to take action to control the ever- growing tide of immigrants. Quotas were imposed to regulate how many people could come into the United States and from which countries. Today, immigration

is limited to 675,000 per year, although millions have come in illegally as well.

Essay

Students may note that sometimes society overcorrects for past wrongs, and reverse discrimination occurs. Under the American system of government, though, there are ways for people and groups to address inequality.

Test B

Key Terms 1. a 2. f 3. d 4. i 5. b 6. c 7. h 8. e 9. g 10. j Multiple Choice 11. c 12. b 13. a 14. c 15. a 16. c 17. a 18. b 19. c 20. a Document-Based Question

21. (a) The immigrants in this poem are described as people from the lower social classes in their home country who are looking for a better life. They are described as “tired,” “poor,” “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” “wretched refuse,” “homeless,” and “tempest- tossed.” (b) the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

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Critical Thinking

22. (a) A good answer should note that in the early years of the republic, the government made little attempt to control immigration. From the 1890s to the 1930s, Congress took action to control the increasing number of immigrants. Certain groups were excluded. Quotas were imposed to regulate the number of people that could come into the United States from certain countries. Today, according to law, immigration is limited to 675,000 per year. (b) There are millions of aliens who are in the United States illegally. Certain states such as California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida in particular are forced to cope with the costs of illegal immigration. Many U.S. citizens want to take steps to reduce illegal immigration; others want to make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens.

Essay

23. A good answer should explain that the United States has taken many steps in recent decades to make opportunities more equal for men and women of all races, national origins, religions, and physical abilities. Such efforts include the civil rights acts, Supreme Court cases that ruled segregation unconstitutional, and affi rmative action. In a country as large and diverse as the United States, there will always be new civil rights issues that must be addressed. This is partly due to ongoing changes in society. For example, more women entering the workforce caused the nation to focus on issues of gender equality. New issues such as reverse discrimination have arisen due to efforts to correct past wrongs. The U.S. system of government provides a fair means for addressing these issues.

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In document UNIT 5 Answer Key CHAPTER 18. CHAPTER 18 Section 1 (Page 40-42)