The Progression of Civil Rights in the USA

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Civil rights are the rights guaranteed to the citizens of the specified location. When looking back at our history our civil rights have changed our life forever. Our civil rights were first introduced in 1787 as our Constitution. The Constitution states that any citizen is guaranteed the right to freedom of speech, of religion, and of press, and the rights to due process of law and to equal protection under the law. Civil Rights Acts and Movements helped define all of the civil rights but mainly who the rights were for and what freedom of religion, and equal protection under the law truly intended. Our civil rights are guaranteed to the citizens of the United States. When the constitution first came into affect there was still black slavery in the south. There were many Civil Rights Acts to make blacks citizens of the United States in 1866, 1870, 1871, and 1875 (factmonster). “The Civil Rights Act of 1866… granted full citizenship to all persons born on American soil, except Native Americans who were exempt from taxation” (usconstitution).This act along with the others stopped slavery, allowed blacks to own property, enforce contracts, and give evidence in courts, which made the common black person a citizen. Although these acts helped many places still didn’t except blacks as real human beings. This act helped to define who was a citizen by making a law against black slavery and stating that they are citizens. The constitution states the citizens are gua...

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