AQA A-Level Politics 7152
The Nature and Sources of the British Constitution
The Structure and Role of Parliament
The Prime Minister and Cabinet
The UK Judiciary
Devolution
Democracy and Participation
Elections and Referendums
Political Parties in the UK
Pressure Groups in the UK
The UK and the European Union
The Constitutional Framework of US Government
Congress
The US Presidency
The US Supreme Court
US Elections and Direct Democracy
Political Parties in the USA
Pressure Groups in the USA
Civil Rights in the USA
Comparative Politics: Theoretical Approaches
Constitutions and Legislatures Compared
The Executives Compared
The Judiciaries Compared
Electoral and Party Systems Compared
Pressure Groups Compared
Civil Rights Compared
Liberalism
Conservatism
Socialism
NationalismIdeology
FeminismIdeology
MulticulturalismIdeology
AnarchismIdeology
Civil Rights in the USA
- 6 subtopics
- 15 things to know
- Paper 2
What Civil Rights in the USA covers
Where rights come from in a codified system, how the Fourteenth Amendment carried them into the states, the civil rights movement and its methods, and the issues still being fought over.
The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Civil Liberties, Civil Rights and the Bill of RightsRecall questions on the difference between liberties and rights, what the Bill of Rights is, why it came so soon and what the First Amendment protects.Open →
- Entrenchment, Incorporation and the Rights AmendmentsRecall questions on why entrenchment makes rights secure, the two stages of amendment, the incorporation doctrine and the key clauses of the Fourteenth.Open →
- Landmark Rights Rulings and the Supreme CourtRecall questions on landmark Supreme Court rulings on rights, from Brown and Miranda to Heller, Obergefell and the Court's changing position on abortion, and on whether the Court is a reliable protector of rights.Open →
- The Civil Rights MovementRecall questions on what the movement was, the NAACP's central strategy, why the Montgomery bus boycott mattered and the tactics that defined it.Open →
- Rights Groups and the CourtsRecall questions on how groups use litigation to make policy, why it suits a minority cause, and on groups ranged on opposite sides of one issue.Open →
- Contested Rights Issues TodayRecall questions on the Hyde Amendment, why affirmative action is contested, the partisan fight over voting rights and immigration as a constitutional question.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What is the Bill of Rights?
Why was the Bill of Rights added so soon after the Constitution?
What did the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments achieve?
Why did Brown v Board of Education not immediately end segregated schooling?
Why should landmark rulings be treated as illustrative rather than as a closed list?
What was the civil rights movement?
What is Black Lives Matter?
What was the NAACP's central strategy?
Name a group that defends civil liberties across the board, and say what it does.
Why is litigation especially attractive to a minority cause?
How do rights groups try to influence judicial appointments?
How does the gun debate illustrate the wider pattern of US rights politics?
What is the Hyde Amendment?
How broadly does the First Amendment protect speech?
Take Civil Rights in the USA further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Civil liberty vs Civil right
Civil liberty: freedom protected against government interference. Civil right: entitlement to equal treatment and participation.
De jure segregation vs De facto segregation
De jure segregation: separation required by law. De facto segregation: separation produced through practice or circumstance.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Distinguish civil liberties from civil rights.
Model answer
Civil liberties are freedoms held against government interference, such as speech and religion, while civil rights are entitlements to equal treatment and protection from discrimination.
- 2
What is the Bill of Rights?
Model answer
The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, ratified in 1791, which set out the basic protections held by citizens against the federal government.
- 3
Why was the Bill of Rights added so soon after the Constitution?
Model answer
Opponents of ratification feared a powerful central government, and the promise of written guarantees was the price of securing the states' agreement.
- 4
State the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.
Model answer
It protects freedom of religion through the establishment and free exercise clauses, together with freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and the right to petition government.
- 5
State what the Second Amendment provides.
Model answer
It protects the right to keep and bear arms, in wording that links that right to a well-regulated militia.
- 6
What does the Fourth Amendment protect?
Model answer
It protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures and normally requires a warrant supported by probable cause.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Civil Rights in the USA revision questions
- What does Civil Rights in the USA cover in AQA A-Level Politics?
- 6 subtopics: civil liberties, civil rights and the bill of rights, entrenchment, incorporation and the rights amendments, landmark rights rulings and the supreme court, the civil rights movement, rights groups and the courts and contested rights issues today. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Civil Rights in the USA organised?
- By the AQA 7152 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Civil Rights in the USA, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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