Chapter 6 Notes

History of Press in America John Hancock was the first person to write newspapers in the British colonies in North America. First newspaper was the Boston News-Letter. Freedom of the Press idea comes from John Peter Zenger.

How will you respond? Will you follow the judge’s orders? Will you branch out and come to your own decision? What will that be? Is Zenger guilty of seditious liber in your opinion? Come to a verdict.

Amendment Process (Option 1) Amendment is proposed by 2/3 vote in both houses of Congress Amendment is ratified by ¾ of the state legislatures or ratified by ¾ of states holding a special state constitutional convention

Amendment Process (Option 2) Amendment is proposed at a national convention called by 2/3 of the state legislatures Amendment is ratified by ¾ of the state legislatures or ¾ of the states in state conventions

Bill of Rights Debate James Madison urged Congress to, “make the Constitution better in the opinion of those who are opposed to it without weakening its frame….in the judgment of those who are attached to it.” Two months later after the Bill of Rights were drawn up Madison wanted them added into the articles, those that opposed wanted them at the end of the Constitution. Those that were opposed did not want to give them the same importance as the original Constitution.

Proposal and Ratification 12 Amendments were proposed but only 10 passed Those two that failed involved enlarging the House of Representatives and limiting when Congress could raise their salaries By December 15 th, 1791 the states had ratified the 10 amendments and they became a part of the Constitution

Supreme Court Cases to Know Tinker v. Des Moines Gideon v. Wainwright Miranda v. Arizona Roe v. Wade Texas v. Johnson Furman v. Georgia Gregg v. Georgia

Additional Cases Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Ruled that separate but equal facilities for blacks and whites was constitutional Set the precedent for segregation Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Brown v. Board of Ed Video Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and ruled separate but equal was not constitutional. Integrated schools

Affirmative Action Steps and programs put in place to counteract the effects of past racial discrimination (specifically against women and African-Americans) Regents of the University of California v. Bakke Challenged affirmative action and ruled it was unconstitutional for a program to discriminate against whites because of their race