The provisions of the US Constitution, drafted after her independence on July 4th, 1776, and brought into law on September 17th, 1787, have persistently impacted American politics. Certain individual rights and liberties were guaranteed in the constitution, and they have been protected and passed down from generation to generation. According to History.com Staff (2009), American policies, particularly those affecting the general population and their rights, have evolved from 1860 to the present. Some of these rights and liberties may be cited as the primary reason for government transitions from one regime to the next (History.com Staff n.d). This essay will, thus discuss how the primary values of order, equality and freedom have shaped the American policies since 1860.
First, it is important to consider the impact of freedom on the change of American policies throughout the years. During the 18th and 19th centuries, civil rights groups came up whose main aim was to fight for the rights of the oppressed minorities in America. The emergency of civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X brought a shift in some of the US's political policies that had earlier curtailed the freedoms of blacks in America. Through peaceful and nonviolent protests, Luther sought to fight for the freedom of the black Americans, victims of injustice and the economically disadvantaged (Tisdale 28-30.). Through his leadership and resilience in fighting for the rights of the oppressed, various landmark legislations were passed like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that granted equal freedoms to all Americans irrespective of their color or sex or country of origin (History.com Staff n.d.).
Furthermore, the US constitution permits the upholding of law and order in all the aspects of society. From the 1860s through the 1900 and 2000, there have been noticed several changes inn policies of the American people to accommodate order and justice in the society. Some of the provisions include the amendment of the constitution to allow for the enforcement of law and order. For instance, the constitution allowed for the formation of courts to maintain order in the country. Amendments I to XI to the US Constitution came up as a result of the need for the country's leadership to permit the restoration and enrichment of law and order. Indeed the demand of the people for the restoration and rebuilding of order in America was a driving force for a majority of the US leaders in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Finally, the fight for the value of equality as a fundamental right for the people was one of the key reasons why civil rights movement arose in the period between 1860 and 2000s. American leaders from the time of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. to the present time where civil rights are highly regarded faced immense pressure to ensure justice and equality among all people. For example, in the fight for equality in regards to treatment among the blacks and Americans, Martin Luther engineered the Montgomery Bus Boycott that led to a landmark ruling in 1956 that declared seating segregation in buses illegal (Tisdale 14-22).
Works Cited
History.com Staff. Martin Luther King Jr. Web. 2009.
Tisdale, Rachel. The Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2013. Print.
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