Topic

Examine the nature of American Federalism and how this division of power between the Federal and state governments impacted the Civil Right Movement. As you do so, address three of the following (and only three) assigned concepts in conjunction an assigned question:

1. Concept: Enumerated, Implied and Reserved Powers

· Question: What did the founders intend for the relationship between the Federal and state governments? Constitutional speaking is Civil Rights a Federal or a state matter?

2. Concept: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)

· Question: What was the central question behind both the Plessy and Brown cases, and how did the decisions from both cases impact the Civil Rights Movement?

3. Concept: Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Right Act of 1965

· Question: What was the Constitutional basis for each of these acts, and what issues did each act address?

4. Concept: Affirmative Action

· Question: What are the goals of Affirmative Action policies, and how successful has Affirmative Action been in achieving these goals?

The key to the assignment is to demonstrate your knowledge of three of the assigned concepts. Assignments should be clearly organized, succinct, informative, coherent, and thoroughly based upon an analysis of the assigned concepts. Always keep in mind that the key to the assignment is to demonstrate your mastery of the three assigned concepts you select, the topic question(s) are included only to place your analysis of the assigned concepts into context. Don’t become overly concerned with the topic to the detriment of a detailed discussion of the assigned concepts.

Assignment Format

Section 1

Include a brief introductory paragraph comprised of a statement of purpose for your assignment – what are you going to do and how are you going to do it.

Sections 2 through 4

Here you will have a one to two paragraph section for each of the 3 assigned concepts you select. With each of your three assigned concept sections begin by first fully defining and explaining the assigned concept in your own words, only then move to apply the assigned concept in the context of the connected topic question.

Section 5

This should be a brief concluding paragraph to summarize the key elements articulated in your assignment.

Section 6

While you should define and explain your three selected assigned concepts in your own words, you should be prepared to supplement your understanding of the topic questions with research. Be sure to cite any resources used in this section.

Academic Dishonesty Policy

If you do use the words, thoughts or ideas of another, you must properly cite your source (author name, publication, page number, and/or website address) and direct quotes must include the previous reference information and be placed inside quotation marks “…”, to do otherwise is plagiarism. Since I have seen this problem increasing of late, I do what to emphasize a particular point here. IF YOU COPY MATERIAL DIRECTLY FROM A WEBSITE AND SIMPLY PASTE IT INTO YOUR ANSWER WITHOUT CITATION, YOU WILL RECEIVE A ‘0’ FOR THE ASSIGNMENT. I should let everyone know that this type of plagiarism is very easy to detect by employing a Google search of any suspicious material.

Submission Guidelines

Due Dates

Answers must be submitted to the course site by 11:55pm the evening of Sunday the 19th of July. There is a 24-hour grace period for this assignment that expires at 11:55pm, Monday the 20th. Answers submitted after the deadline will not be accepted for credit.

Length and Font

Answers should range between 1,500 and 2,000 words. The assignment should be single-spaced, in Calibri 11pt font.

File Type

All answers must be submitted to the course site in RTF (Rich Text Format). Answers submitted in Word or WordPerfect format will not be accepted. To save a file in Rich Text Format simply click on File, Save As… and choose the Save as format as Rich Text Format, while in your wordprocessing program.

File Title

Please title your RTF file in the following manner, POL_120_WP_, and also included your Last Name and First Initial. For example, if your name is Jermaine Brown, you would title your file POL_120_WP_BrownJ.

Grading Policy

This assignment is worth 20 points. Below is a breakdown of how your assignment will be graded.