United States Constitution

by | Mar 14, 2023 | Project Management

 

Imagine you and a friend are exchanging emails and have been discussing the landmark Supreme Court cases that have shaped the state of civil rights in the United States today.

Select 3 of the following landmark cases/rulings related to civil rights and/or slavery:

Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857)
Strauder v. West Virginia, 100 U.S. 303 (1880)
Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883)
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 (1932)
Loving v. Virginia (1967)
Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
You can also explore other U.S. landmark cases by searching the University Library.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word e-mail addressed to your friend, using a tone conveying cordial interpersonal communications, which includes the following:

Summarize the details of the 3 selected cases.
Evaluate how the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Bill of Rights addressed the decisions and outcomes of the cases.

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Sample Solution

Analyze the effects of the outcomes on U.S. citizens and civil rights since then.
Dear Friend,

I hope you’re doing well! We recently had an interesting conversation about some of the landmark Supreme Court cases that have shaped the state of civil rights in America today, so I wanted to follow up our discussion by sending you a brief email detailing my thoughts on three particular rulings—Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Strauder v. West Virginia (1880) and Civil Rights Cases (1883)—and their impacts on both citizens and civil rights throughout history.

Sample Solution

Analyze the effects of the outcomes on U.S. citizens and civil rights since then.
Dear Friend,

I hope you’re doing well! We recently had an interesting conversation about some of the landmark Supreme Court cases that have shaped the state of civil rights in America today, so I wanted to follow up our discussion by sending you a brief email detailing my thoughts on three particular rulings—Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Strauder v. West Virginia (1880) and Civil Rights Cases (1883)—and their impacts on both citizens and civil rights throughout history.

The Dred Scott case saw a slave take his freedom fight all the way to the Supreme Court, with his former master arguing that as a black man he was not considered a citizen under the Constitution and therefore could not sue in federal court or travel freely from one place to another without permission from his owner(s). The majority opinion argued this decision but also declared that African Americans were “so far inferior…of no political rights” whatsoever, effectively denying them any protection under law for over sixty years until it was overturned by later decisions such as Plessy v Ferguson (1896).

In Strauder v West Virginia, John Strauder sued after being denied service on a jury because of his race; however, unlike in previous cases where racial discrimination had been upheld under states’ laws allowing it at the time, this ruling found that these practices violated equal protection Clause of Fourteenth Amendment which would prevent states from passing discriminatory laws going forward into future.

Lastly Civil Rights Cases struck down Civil Rights Act 1875 put forth Congress provide national level protections against racial discrimination public places like hotels theaters train cars etc saying it exceeded authority offered US Constitution much same fashion Dred Scott before them did … Both decisions used language implying those discriminated against still lacked any form citizenship status thus hindering group’s ability continue fighting oppressive policies government institutions.

These rulings unfortunately set stage multiple future ones uphold segregation even after Reconstruction period ended when legal slavery abolished Unfortunately their outcome still felt today many forms racism exist come different ways subtle yet persistent manner thanks unequal treatment based solely someone’s skin color/ethnicity or religious beliefs .

To conclude going back look earlier mentioned decisions clear see how precedents established during era now inform present day society respect handling certain topics related human rights minorities are afforded within framework US Constitution itself continuously challenge ourselves reevaluate evaluate what we consider just equitable way life respect everyone regardless background identity might be …

What other landmark Supreme Court cases can you think of?

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