Political Or Principle Dbq Analysis

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Emelly Lemus DBQ 2nd/5th Was it Political or Principle? The summer of 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson finally decided to sign the Civil Rights Act. This bill permitted people of all races and skin tones to be free from segregation. It promised the extension on voting rights, stronger equal employment opportunities, and guaranteed all Americans the right to use public facilities such as schools, restaurants and swimming pools (Politics or Principle 405). Many Americans questioned if the true decision behind President Johnson signing the civil rights act of 1964 was political or principle. I strongly believe Johnson signed it in a principle matter due to seeing different perspectives in living with prejudice, he would do anything to get the bill signed and he was finally free from the South's persuasive bonds. America was about halfway divided by Civil Rights. There was the North, the side that supported it the most, and then there was the South, the side that was mostly against the bill. Johnson had been born and raised in the South having a different way of seeing Civil Rights. compared to all the Mexican Americans, …show more content…

Thank God almighty, I’m free at last..” (Dallek 419). Those were the words Lyndon said in response to Roy Wilkins, an African American civil rights leader. President Johnson used Dr. King’s words to describe what he truthfully felt after being able to officially sign the bill. “...Johnson did not directly oppose the 1957 civil rights bill. However he did help push through provision saying that anyone accused of violating the act would get a jury trial” (The Chicago Tribune 417). He didn’t want to give in completely saying that he was with the civil rights bill at the beginning. He was held back by South bonds, delaying him from the act of signing the bill (Dallek 419). As mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, he was finally able to help students like the Mexican Americans he taught, with their

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