Download MC DBQ T Constitutional Principles Individual Rights

MC/DBQ/T Practice – Constitutional Principles – Individual Rights
US History/Napp
Name: _________________
Do Now: Carefully read the directions to the June 2009 US History and Government
Thematic Essay question. Answer the questions that follow.
Theme: Constitutional Principles – Individual Rights
Throughout United States history, many different groups have faced discrimination.
The federal and state governments have taken actions that have either protected or
limited the rights of these groups in American society.
Task:
Select two different groups in American society who have faced discrimination and for
each
 Describe one specific example of discrimination faced by the group
 Describe one action taken by the federal or state governments related to this
example of discrimination
 Discuss how the action taken by the federal or state governments either protected
or limited the rights of the group
Some groups you might wish to consider include Native American Indians, African
Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, the elderly, and the disabled.
1- What is the theme of the essay?
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2- What have some groups in American history faced?
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3- Identify one example of discrimination faced by a group in American history
[Previous Knowledge].
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4- How many groups must the student identify in the essay?
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5- What must the student address for each action?
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6- What suggestions does the Board of Regents provide?
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7- Which two suggestions will you select?
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8- Do you have more knowledge about one of the groups or are you quite
knowledgeable about both groups?
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9- Why will you select these two groups?
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10- On a scale of one to ten [one being easiest and ten being most difficult], rate this
essay? __________________________________________________________________
Part I: The following documents address each of the State’s suggested periods of
migration. Read each document carefully and then answer the multiple-choice questions.
Document 1: Native American Indians
“Federal Indian policy during the period from 1870 to 1900 marked a departure from
earlier policies that were dominated by removal, treaties, reservations, and even war.
The new policy focused specifically on breaking up reservations by granting land
allotments to individual Native Americans. Very sincere individuals reasoned that if a
person adopted white clothing and ways, and was responsible for his own farm, he
would gradually drop his Indian-ness and be assimilated into the population. It would
then no longer be necessary for the government to oversee Indian welfare in the
paternalistic way it had been obligated to do, or provide meager annuities that seemed
to keep the Indian in a subservient and poverty-stricken position.
On February 8, 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act, named for its author, Senator
Henry Dawes of Massachusetts. Also known as the General Allotment Act, the law
allowed for the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by
the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. Thus,
Native Americans registering on a tribal ‘roll’ were granted allotments of reservation
land. ‘To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section; To each single person over
eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; To each orphan child under eighteen
years of age, one-eighth of a section; and To each other single person under eighteen
years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President
directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a
section…’
The purpose of the Dawes Act and the subsequent acts that extended its initial
provisions was purportedly to protect Indian property rights, particularly during the
land rushes of the 1890s, but in many instances the results were vastly different. The
land allotted to the Indians included desert or near-desert lands unsuitable for
farming. In addition, the techniques of self-sufficient farming were much different
from their tribal way of life. Many Indians did not want to take up agriculture, and
those who did want to farm could not afford the tools, animals, seed, and other
supplies necessary to get started. There were also problems with inheritance. Often
young children inherited allotments that they could not farm because they had been
sent away to boarding schools. Multiple heirs also caused a problem; when several
people inherited an allotment, the size of the holdings became too small for efficient
farming.” ~ ourdocuments.gov
Multiple-Choice Questions from the Document:
1- The aim of the Dawes Act of 1887 was to
(1) restore previously taken land to Native American Indian tribes
(2) maintain traditional Native American Indian cultures
(3) assimilate Native American Indians into American culture
(4) end all governmental contact with Native American Indians
2- The passage of the Dawes Act in 1887 was primarily an attempt by the United States
government to
(1) limit the power of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(2) return eastern land to Native American Indian tribes
(3) encourage Native American Indians to give up their traditional cultures
(4) hire Native American Indians as military scouts
3- During the late 1800s, many North American Indian tribes were sent to reservations
that were located
(1) along the major rivers and lakes of the Midwest
(2) near large cities in the Northwest
(3) in sparsely populated regions of the West
(4) east of the Mississippi River
4- The Homestead Act, the mass killing of buffalo, and the completion of the
transcontinental railroad are most closely associated with the
(1) rise of organized labor
(2) building of the Erie Canal
(3) northern migration of African Americans
(4) decline of the Plains Indians
5- The Indian Wars that occurred between 1860 and 1890 were mainly the result of
(1) disputes over the spread of slavery
(2) conflict with Mexico over Texas and California
(3) the search for gold in California
(4) the movement of settlers onto the Great Plains
6- “I am tired of fighting…Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad.
From where the sun now stands, I shall fight no more forever!” ~ Chief Joseph, 1877
In this statement, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce expressed his reluctant acceptance
of a government policy of
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
placing Native American Indian tribes on reservations
requiring Native American Indians to settle west of the Mississippi River
granting immediate citizenship to Native American Indians
forcing Native American Indians to assimilate into American culture
7- In the late 1800’s, the goal of the Federal Government’s policy toward Native
American Indians was to
(1) destroy tribal bonds and thus weaken their traditional cultural values
(2) grant them full citizenship and due process
(3) give their tribal groups authority over their own affairs
(4) increase the land holdings of western tribes
Document 2: African Americans
“The landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
settled the question of whether or not blacks and whites can receive an education
integrated with or separate from each other. The case overturned the 1896 case
of Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the doctrine of ‘separate but equal.’ This
concept stated that separate public facilities of equal quality do not violate the
equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which
reads:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein
they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Linda Brown was an eight year old black child who had to cross Topeka,
Kansas to attend grade school, while her white friends were able to attend classes
at a public school just a few blocks away. The Topeka School system was
segregated on the basis of race, and under the separate but equal doctrine, this
arrangement was acceptable and legal. Linda's parents sued in federal district
court on the basis that separate facilities for blacks were inherently unequal. The
lower courts agreed with the school system that if the facilities were equal, the
child was being treated equally with whites as prescribed by the Fourteenth
Amendment. The Browns and other families in other school systems appealed to
the Supreme Court that even facilities that were physically equal did not take
into account ‘intangible’ factors, and that segregation itself has a deleterious
effect on the education of black children. Their case was encouraged by the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was
argued before the Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall, who would later
become the first black justice on the Supreme Court.” ~ pbs.org
Multiple-Choice Questions from the Document:
1- The major goal of the civil rights movement of the 1960’s was to
(1) establish a separate political state for African Americans
(2) gain passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution
(3) end segregation based on race
(4) permit unlimited immigration to the United States
2- After the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, African Americans
continued to experience political and economic oppression mainly because
(1) the amendments were not intended to solve their problems
(2) many African Americans distrusted the Federal Government
(3) Southern legislatures enacted Jim Crow laws
(4) poor communications kept people from learning about their legal rights
3- When President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent Federal troops to Little Rock,
Arkansas, during the 1957 school integration crisis, he was exercising his
constitutional power as
(1) Chief Legislator
(2) Commander-in-Chief
(3) Chief Diplomat
(4) Head of State
4- “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
~ Brown v. Board of Education
The effect of this Supreme Court ruling was to
(1) establish affirmative action programs in higher education
(2) require the integration of public schools
(3) desegregate the armed forces and the military academies
(4) force states to spend an equal amount on each public school student
5“We conclude that in the field of public education the
doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate
educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
~ Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Which constitutional idea was the basis for this Supreme Court decision?
(1) protection against double jeopardy
(2) freedom of speech
(3) right of assembly
(4) equal protection of the law
6- The federal voting rights laws passed in the 1950s and 1960s were designed to
(1) return control of voting regulations to the states
(2) remove racial barriers to voting
(3) extend suffrage to American women
(4) prevent recent immigrants from voting
7- In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court ruled that
(1) states may not secede from the Union
(2) all western territories should be open to slavery
(3) racial segregation was constitutional
(4) slaves are property and may not be taken from their owners
8- In 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
advanced the civil rights movement by
(1) guaranteeing equal voting rights to African Americans
(2) banning racial segregation in hotels and restaurants
(3) declaring that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th amendment
(4) upholding the principle of separate but equal public facilities
Document 3: Asian Americans
“The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major law restricting immigration to
the United States. It was enacted in response to economic fears, especially on the
West Coast, where native-born Americans attributed unemployment and
declining wages to Chinese workers whom they also viewed as racially inferior.
The Chinese Exclusion Act, signed into law on May 6, 1882, by President
Chester A. Arthur, effectively halted Chinese immigration for ten years and
prohibited Chinese from becoming US citizens. Through the Geary Act of 1892,
the law was extended for another ten years before becoming permanent in 1902.
After the Gold Rush of 1849, the Chinese were drawn to the West Coast as a
center of economic opportunity where, for example, they helped build the first
transcontinental railroad by working on the Central Pacific from 1864 to 1869.
The Chinese Exclusion Act foreshadowed the immigration-restriction acts of the
1920s, culminating in the National Origins Act of 1929, which capped overall
immigration to the United States at 150,000 per year and barred Asian
immigration. The law was repealed by the Magnuson Act in 1943 during World
War II, when China was an ally in the war against imperial Japan.” ~
harvard.edu
Multiple-Choice Questions from the Document:
1- Which of the following is true of the Chinese Exclusion Act?
(1) It decreased Chinese immigration
(2) It resulted in segregated classrooms.
(3) It was agreed to by Chinese immigrants and the United States.
(4) It prohibited Chinese Americans from working in industrial jobs.
2- Nativism in the late 19th century was motivated primarily by
(1) hostility toward immigrant workers
(2) the need to reduce overcrowding in western states
(3) cultural conflicts with Native American Indians
(4) the migration of African Americans to northern cities
3- One way in which the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Gentlemen’s Agreement, and the
National Origins Act were similar is that all were expressions of
(1) imperialism
(2) nativism
(3) militarism
(4) Manifest Destiny
4- The Gentlemen’s Agreement, literacy tests, and the quota system were all attempts
by Congress to restrict
(1) Immigration
(3) Voting rights
(2) Property ownership
(4) Access to public education
Document 4: Hispanic Americans
“In February 1930 in San Antonio, Texas, five thousand Mexicans and Mexican
Americans gathered at the city’s railroad station to depart from the United States for
resettlement in Mexico. In August, a special train carried another two thousand to
central Mexico. Most Americans are familiar with the forced relocation in 1942 of
112,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast to internment camps. Far fewer
are aware that during the Great Depression, the Federal Bureau of Immigration
(after 1933, the Immigration and Naturalization Service) and local authorities
rounded up Mexican immigrants and naturalized Mexican American citizens and
shipped them to Mexico to reduce relief roles. In a shameful episode in the nation's
history, more than 400,000 repatriados, many of them citizens of the United States by
birth, were sent across the U.S.-Mexico border from Arizona, California, and Texas.
Texas’s Mexican-born population was reduced by a third. Los Angeles lost a third of
its Mexican population. In Los Angeles, the only Mexican American student at
Occidental College sang a painful farewell song, ‘Las Golondrinas,’ to serenade
departing Mexicans.” ~ digitalhistory.uh.edu
Multiple-Choice Questions from the Document:
1- The U.S. government repatriated Mexican immigrants and naturalized Mexican
American citizens during the Great Depression
(1) Because Mexican Americans were more likely to support communism
(2) Because Mexican immigrants refused to become U.S. citizens
(3) To reduce relief payments
(4) To increase favorable relations with Latin American nations
Document 5: Women
“The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. Achieving this
milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation
and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage
supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to
achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few
early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920.” ~ ourdocuments.gov
Multiple-Choice Questions:
1- Women won the right to vote with the passage of the ______________ in 1920.
(1) Sixteenth Amendment
(2) Nineteenth Amendment
(3) Fifteenth Amendment
(4) Eighteenth Amendment
2- The first women’s rights convention in American was held in which location?
(1) Boston, Massachusetts
(2) Seneca Falls, New York
(3) Cheyenne, Wyoming
(4) Jamestown, Virginia
Document 6: The Elderly
“The Age Discrimination Act of 1975 prohibits discrimination on the basis of age in
programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. The Act, which applies
to all ages, permits the use of certain age distinctions and factors other than age that
meet the Act’s requirements. The Age Discrimination Act is enforced by the Civil
Rights Center.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects certain
applicants and employees 40 years of age and older from discrimination on the basis
of age in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation, or terms, conditions or
privileges of employment. The ADEA is enforced by the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC).” ~ dol.gov
Multiple-Choice Question:
1- The purpose of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 is to
(1) Ensure that all Americans are provided equal employment opportunities
(2) Ensure that all employees 40 years of age or younger are protected from
discrimination on the basis of age
(3) Ensure that all Americans are denied equal employment opportunities
(4) Ensure that all employees until they are 40 years of age are protected from
discrimination on the basis of age
Document 7: The Disabled
“Passed by Congress in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the
nation’s first comprehensive civil rights law addressing the needs of people with
disabilities, prohibiting discrimination in employment, public services, public
accommodations, and telecommunications. The Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission was given enforcement authority for Title I of the Act, the
employment discrimination provisions. Congress provided that Title I would not
take effect for two years in order to allow the Commission time to develop
regulations and technical assistance, time to conduct comprehensive public
education programs on the new disability law, and time for employers to adjust to
the new requirements.” eeoc.gov
Multiple-Choice Questions:
1- The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, and the Americans with
Disabilities Act were government efforts to
(1) Eliminate restrictions on immigration
(2) End discrimination against various groups
(3) Provide federal aid for children
(4) Require equal treatment of men and women
Outline the Essay: Constitutional Principles – Individual Rights
First Group: __________________
Second Group: __________________

Describe one specific example of
discrimination faced by the group

Describe one specific example of
discrimination faced by the group

Describe one action taken by the
federal or state governments related
to this example of discrimination

Describe one action taken by the
federal or state governments related
to this example of discrimination

Discuss how the action taken by the
federal or state governments either
protected or limited the rights of the
group

Discuss how the action taken by the
federal or state governments either
protected or limited the rights of the
group
Introduction:
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Body Paragraph:
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Conclusion:
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