To live freely and participate in society is a right many take for granted. Achieving and maintaining those civil rights have been a struggle for different groups throughout U.S. history. Civil rights mean more than the protests of the 1950s and 1960s and reach beyond racial and ethnic groups. Today, the struggle has gone from an issue of racial equality to equality for all and new voices are engaging in the discussion, helping to define who we are as a people and a nation.
What does the term "civil rights" mean to the American public? As stated in the Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” sets the ideal of human rights due to all people. In regards to the rights of people in a society, those rights are defined by the government and conferred upon citizens of a nation or state. For the purposes of these discussions, civil rights are those rights guaranteed to individuals as citizens of a nation, irrespective of gender, race and ethnicity, physical/mental ability, or sexual preference. This roots the examination of civil rights in the process of people exercising those rights within a societal framework and the resistance to those individuals.
Years after the Declaration of Independence, the newly formed United States government ratified the Constitution of 1789, which in addition to codifying the rights of its citizens, formalized the process of disenfranchisement of Native Americans, and further marginalized African-descend people. Congress passed the Naturalization Act of 1790, which stated that to become a citizen, a person must be “a free white person, of good character, living in the United States for 2 years.” Those people born in the U.S. to fathers born in the U.S., or who had been naturalized, were citizens. And while women could be citizens, they were unable to vote in the majority of states and had limited property rights, particularly if married.
Westward expansion introduced new groups to the civil rights discussion. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 promised Mexican citizens that suddenly found themselves in the U.S. after the Mexican American War, the rights of U.S. citizens. In short order, their property rights, as well as access to the political process, were legally erased and blunted. Much of the same rationale causing the marginalization of the Mexican-American population was directed toward the Chinese population in the U.S. Once the Chinese population became permanent fixtures in Western mining towns and as labor for the railroads, anti-Chinese agitation led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, denying citizenship to a group that helped develop one-third of the nation. The Dred Scott decision in 1857 removed any vestiges of civil rights for African Americans by legally denying any claim of citizenship. All of these actions left free and enslaved African Americans, Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans effectively disenfranchised in a growing and expanding nation.
The passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments in the second half of the 19th century resolved the issue of citizenship for many groups, granting them the same rights as the rest of society. Native Americans, however, were not given citizenship until 1924. Within a short time, social practices, policies, and laws created barriers to the full realization of their rights as citizens. Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, immigration quotas, and the denial or repeal of citizenship to groups already ensconced in the U.S. undermined the amendments. Groups that gained citizenship found their rights abrogated, denied, or simply ignored. The 19th Amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote, but did not provide equal rights. For African Americans, Latinos, and Asians, becoming or being born citizens did not ensure full access to these rights. Disenfranchised groups had to fight to regain their civil rights.
The fight of disenfranchised or marginalized groups to regain their civil rights is generally referred to as a “civil rights struggle.” The use of the term is instructive as it indicates that although rights of citizenship, “inalienable rights,” are granted, for many they have to be wrested from society. Over time, the ranks of marginalized citizens in the U.S. has expanded to include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual people and disabled people. The civil rights struggle takes place within the existing framework of laws, in particular the Bill of Rights, and has gone from being an issue of racial equality to one of equality for all groups.
A “national monument” established by the President protects “objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated on lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government” (54 U.S.C. § 320301, known as the Antiquities Act). If the national monument is administered by the National Park Service (NPS), as many national monuments are, it is subject to the same laws and policies as govern other units of the National Park System. Thus, an NPS national monument established by the President is a protected area similar to a national park, administered for the protection and enjoyment of its resources and values.
To be established by the President, the area must meet the criteria of the Antiquities Act (54 U.S.C § 320301), including having objects of historic or scientific interest located on land already owned or controlled by the Federal government. The views of the public are carefully considered in the process. National monuments can also be created by Congress under their own enabling statutes, rather than the Antiquities Act. National monuments can be administered by Federal agencies other than NPS. The Presidential proclamation or Congressionally-enacted statute creating the national monument typically indicates which Federal agency will administer it.
Writer and historian Wallace Stegner called national parks "the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."
For nearly 100 years, this best idea has been nurtured by the National Park Service. Over time, the number of national parks has increased and our mission has become more complex as the range of services we offer has grown beyond parks to meet the needs of thousands of towns and cities across the country.
The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world.
The National Park Service is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior and is led by a Director nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Director is supported by senior executives who manage national programs, policy, and budget in the Washington, DC, headquarters and seven regional directors responsible for national park management and program implementation.
Quotes from Inaugural Addresses
“And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
– John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961
“Justice requires us to remember that when any citizen denies his fellow, saying, ‘His color is not mine,’ or ‘His beliefs are strange and different,’ in that moment he betrays America, though his forebears created this nation.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson, January 20, 1965
“The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. This honor now beckons America — the chance to help lead the world at last out of the valley of turmoil and onto that high ground of peace that man has dreamed of since the dawn of civilization.”
– Richard M. Nixon, January 20, 1969
“I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our government but civilization itself.”
– Gerald R. Ford, address after taking the oath of office on August 9, 1974
“To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to our strength.”
– Jimmy Carter, January 20, 1977
“America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world.”
– George H. W. Bush, January 20, 1989
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
– Bill Clinton, January 20, 1993
“Through much of the last century, America’s faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.”
– George W. Bush, January 20, 2001
“Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”
– Barack Obama, January 20, 2009
(Link: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/)
The history of the United States is vast and complex, but can be broken down into moments and time periods that divided, unified, and changed the United States into the country it is today:
1700-1799
1800-1899
1900-1999
2000-Present
(Link: https://www.usa.gov/history#item-37632)
(Link: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/civil-rights-overview.htm)