ANSWER KEY
2. Jefferson wrote that government’s
EXPLORING CIVIL AND
ECONOMIC FREEDOM
Critical Thinking Questions
1. The Founders understood that
property is the natural right of all
individuals to create, obtain, and
control their possessions, beliefs,
faculties, and opinions as well as the
fruits of their own labor.
2. The Federalists feared that listing
certain rights would lead people to
less important.
3. Accept reasoned responses.
4. Accept reasoned responses.
5. Accept reasoned responses.
DBQ: LIBERTY AND THE
Document A: John Locke, Second
Treatise of Civil Government, 1690
1. lives, liberties and estates; his own
his hands
2. for the preservation of their property
3. When we remove something from the
state of nature and mix it with it our own
Document B: Declaration of
Independence, 1776
1. Life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.
purpose is to “secure” rights because
rights were pre-existing in individuals.
They were not given by government.
This means that government’s role is
to protect peoples’ rights that belong
to them by nature.
3. Today: synonyms include pleasure,
joy, exhilaration, contentment, good
fortune.
one’s family, to build wealth and
enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.
Happiness was attained by living in
liberty and by practicing virtue.
Document C: The United States
Constitution and Amendments 1789-
1791
1. The First Amendment protects
property including beliefs, opinions,
and the free expression of them. The
Fifth Amendment protects property
by requiring due process and just
compensation. The Ninth Amendment
protects property by stating that
individuals have unlisted rights. The
Tenth Amendment protects property
by reserving to the states and the
people any powers not granted by
the Constitution to the national
government.
2. Government’s power is limited, and
it is the role of government to protect
the rights of citizens.
41
 Document D: James Madison, On
Property, 1792
1.
everything to which a man may
attach a value and have a right: land,
merchandise, or money, as well as
opinions and the free communication
of them, religious opinions, safety
and liberty, free use of his faculties.
According to Madison, property is an
inalienable right: “…(A)s a man is said
to have a right to his property, he may
be equally said to have a property in
his rights.”
2.
would call the “state of nature.”
government exists only because
man creates it for his own ends, and
that no one but the individual has a
hands, the free use of his faculties,
or the expression of his beliefs
corresponds to what Madison called
“an excess of power.”
3. conscience
4. According to Madison, a just
government “will equally respect the
rights of property, and property in
rights.”
Document E: Amendment XIV, 1868
1. This amendment protects the
following from abridgment by states:
a. “privileges and immunities” of
citizens, b. guarantee of due process
person’s life, liberty, and property,
and c. equal protection of the laws for
all persons in a state’s jurisdiction.
2. Yes. This amendment changed the
relationship between the national
government and individuals by
42
protector of people’s rights against
the action of the states. The federal
government gained power while the
states lost it.
Document F: Slaughterhouse Cases,
1873
1.
immunities narrowly, as rights which
owe their existence to the national
government, as opposed to the state
governments.
Examples are: The right to come to
the seat of government to assert a
claim upon it, or to transact business
functions; Free access to seaports,
states; The right to demand the
federal government’s protection of
life, liberty, and property when on
the high seas or in the jurisdiction
of a foreign government; The rights
to peaceable assembly, petition,
privilege of habeas corpus; The right
to use navigable waters; Any rights
with foreign governments
Document G: Meyer v. State of
Nebraska, 1922
1. Broadly, as encompassing a wide
range of activities: “Freedom from
bodily restraint,” individual right
to contract, “to engage in any of
the common occupations of life, to
establish a home and bring up
children, to worship God according to
the dictates” of conscience, to enjoy
common law privileges “essential to
the orderly pursuit of happiness by
teacher’s right to teach, the parents’
right to hire him to do so, and the
authority of parents to direct the
education of their children.
2. The government could not abridge
the rights of individuals; the ends
did not justify the means. “Certain
fundamental rights must be
respected…a desirable end cannot be
promoted by prohibited means.”
Document H: Pierce v. Society of
Sisters, 1924
1. Broadly, as encompassing a wide
range of activities.“Parents and
guardians, as a part of their liberty,
might direct the education of children
by selecting reputable teachers and
and property for which they claim
protection.” “(R)ights guaranteed
by the Constitution may not be
abridged by legislation which has no
reasonable relation to some purpose
Document I: Schechter v. U.S., 1935
1. The power of the national government
is not made greater by crisis “powers
of the national government are
limited by the constitutional grants.”
“Extraordinary conditions do not
create or enlarge constitutional
power.”
2. The ruling asserts that the Founders
“anticipated and precluded” the
argument that times of crisis would
justify enlarging the power of the
federal government, and acted
adding the Tenth Amendment to the
Constitution.
Document J: Palko v. Connecticut, 1937
1.
including rights to speech, press,
religion, peaceable assembly,
crime, or those rights “implicit in the
fundamental.”
2. Two rights not included in “the
concept of ordered liberty” include
the right to trial by jury and immunity
from prosecution except as the result
of an indictment.
3. Accept reasoned responses.
Document K: West Coast Hotel Co. v.
Parrish, 1937
1. Regulation of liberty of contract is
constitutional as long as the restraint
is reasonable for its goal, and is done
with the intent of protecting people.
2. Reasonable in relation to a
regulation’s subject, and adopted for
the protection of the community’s
health, safety, morals, and welfare.
3. Accept reasoned answers.
Document L: U.S. v. Carolene Products,
1938
1. The Court will presume that laws are
constitutional. The Court should trust
the legislators in laws that regulate
only whether the law is rationally
related to a legitimate state interest.
The rational basis test is a very
low standard and results in most
laws that are subjected to it being
interpreted as constitutional.
2. Footnote 4 lists circumstances in
which the Court might NOT assume
the constitutionality of a law: when
legislation appears on its face to be a
violation of a protection listed in the
Bill of Rights, or is directed against
particular religious, or national, or
racial minorities, or against discrete
normal protections of the political
process. In these instances, the
Court should apply a stricter standard
(“strict scrutiny”) in determining
constitutionality, and will be less
43
 (Fewer laws survive strict scrutiny 2.

of the Kingdom magazine editors,

3. Accept reasoned responses.
1914

Document M: Griswold v. Connecticut, 3. Notes

1964 on the State of Virginia, 1785

1. As encompassing “intimate 4.
relations,” which are protected by
virtue of emanations and penumbras Convention, 1936
of other constitutional protections.
5.
2.
the pattern set by Footnote 4 in the
6. The
Carolene Products decision, applying
Farmer Refuted, 1775
only the rational basis test to laws
touching on these areas. 7. Progressive - Williams Jennings
3. Related, implied rights help support
Democratic National Convention,
stated rights.
1896
4. Accept reasoned responses.
8. Founder - Thomas Jefferson,
Resolutions Relative to the Alien and
Document N: Lawrence v. Texas, 2002
1. 9. The
from “unwarranted government National Gazette, 1792
intrusions into a dwelling or other
private places.” Even outside the 10. Progressive - Woodrow Wilson,
home, we should have an expectation Socialism and Democracy, 1887
“of an autonomy of self that
11.
includes freedom of thought, belief,
Letter on the Passage of the 18th
expression, and certain intimate
conduct.”
1928
2.
12. Why
economic rights.
Prohibition!, 1918

QUOTE MATCH:

Handout A: Too Much, Too Little, or Just

Handout B: Citizens United v. F.E.C.,
Right?
2010 Background Essay
1-6: Accept reasoned responses.
1. The banning of direct campaign
contributions by corporations (Tillman
Handout B: Who Said it? Quote Sorting Act, 1907), limitations on activities of
1. federal employees (Hatch Act, 1939),
Independence, 1776 banning direct campaign contributions
by labor unions (Taft-Hartley, 1947),

44
 public reporting requirements
and dollar-amount limitations on
contributions (FECA, 1971 & 1974),
and a ban on “electioneering
communications” within a set time
period prior to elections (BCRA, 2002).
2. The Court deemed that restricting
independent spending by individuals
and groups to support or defeat a
candidate interfered with speech
protected by the First Amendment, so
long as those funds were independent
of a candidate or his/her campaign.
unconstitutionally interfered with
message to as many people as
possible.
3.
funded by donations, produced
a feature-length movie critical
of presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton. The movie was to be shown
nationwide in select theaters and
through a major cable company’s
On-Demand service. It potentially
ran afoul of the BCRA’s limitation on
“electioneering communications”
within 30-days of a primary election or
60-days of a general election, paid for
by a corporation’s general fund.
4. Citizens United v. F.E.C. extended
the principle, set 34 years earlier in
Buckley, that restrictions on spending
money for the purpose of engaging
in political speech unconstitutionally
burdened the right to free speech
protected by the First Amendment.
5. Accept reasoned answers.
6. Using the same reasoning as the Court
did in Buckley and Citizens United, these
laws would be unconstitutional. They
would be unconstitutional not because
“spending [on a lawyer] amounted to
[assistance of counsel] protected by the
[on a private education] amounted to
[private education] protected by the
[Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment],” or that “spending [on
an abortion] amounted to [an abortion]
protected by the [Due Process Clause of
the Fourteenth Amendment].” Rather,
the reasoning would be that banning
such spending unconstitutionally
interfered with the rights to assistance
of counsel, private education, or an
on candidates from traveling in order
be unconstitutional because the ban
on travel unconstitutionally burdened
CITIZENS UNITED V. F.E.C. DBQ
Document A: Federalist 10, James
Madison, 1787
1. According to Madison, a faction is
a number of citizens who are 1)
united by a common interest and 2)
opposed to the rights of others and/
or the permanent interest of the
community.
2.
elections.
3. Accept reasoned answers.
Document B: Thomas Jefferson to
Edward Carrington, 1787
1. The opinion of the people
2. “The only safeguard of the public
liberty” is, for Jefferson, the ability of
opinions on governmental matters
freely. Too much information is
preferable to too little.
3. A disadvantage to press freedom is
that the people may be led astray at
times. This possibility is acceptable
to Jefferson because he believes
their good sense will win out, and
they will correct themselves. Also,
for all the faults that people are prey
to, government censorship would be
more dangerous than public error.
45
 4. Those with power will “become
wolves,” which is to say they will
oppress those without power.
Document C: The First Amendment,
1791
1. Accept reasoned answers.
2.
persuasively to friends or larger
writing for a newspaper or other
media, writing letters to the editor,
attending political rallies, meeting in
clubs or other groups.
Document D: “The Bosses of the
Senate,” Joseph Keppler, 1889
1. “Quid pro quo” refers to a more
or less equal exchange. In the
context of political discourse, the
term often suggests bribery. “Quid
pro quo” refers to an expectation
that, if wealthy contributors donate
large sums of money to a political
campaign, the person receiving this
2. The cartoonist believes that, through
the business interests of the
industrial age have seized control of
pro quo corruption is indicated by
the position and size, relative to the
business interests.
3. The closed door leading to the public
the author’s message that the
government is no longer open to “the
people.”
46
4.
may note that in the cartoon’s time
state legislatures.
Document E: New Nationalism Speech,
Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
1.
“control and corrupt the men and
methods of government for their own
2. Roosevelt’s description of “special
interests” seems very similar to
Madison’s concept of “faction.”
Document F: Buckley v. Valeo, 1976
1.
the same First Amendment
speech. Civil discourse on politics
is essential for self government.
Engaging in speech requires
spending money. Therefore, limits on
spending by individuals and groups
unconstitutionally burden their ability
against a candidate, and was meant
to ensure such speech could occur in
a variety of ways.
Document G: Citizens United Mission
Statement, 1988
1. Probably not. While Citizens United
is “a number of citizens…united and
actuated by some common…interest,”
its expressive activities do not satisfy
faction: “adversed to the rights of
other citizens, or to the permanent
and aggregate interests of the
community.”
2. Accept reasoned answers.
Document H: McConnell v. F.E.C., 2003
1.
to engage in political speech,
corporations and unions are not
merely must do so through their
PACs.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
Document I: Citizens United v. F.E.C.,
2010
1. The First Amendment protects
citizens, or associations of citizens,
from being punished for engaging in
political speech.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
3. Accept reasoned answers.
Document J: Dissenting Opinion,
Citizens United v. F.E.C., 2010
1. The dissent argues that the right to
free speech was designed to protect
was never understood to apply to
corporations, which are business
associations, not political ones. The
notion of “corporate speech” was
foreign to the Founders, and the First
Amendment doesn’t protect it at the
same level. Congress has a legitimate
interest in protecting against “undue
Document K: Concurring Opinion,
Citizens United v. F.E.C., 2010
1. This concurring justice argues that
corporations existed at the time of
the Founding. They not only engaged
in speech and petitioned the
government, but were understood by
the authors of the First Amendment
to have speech rights equivalent to
individual Americans. Further, the
First Amendment does not allow
restrictions to be made on the basis
Document L: “Another Dam Breaks,”
Matt Wuerker, 2010
1.
Court’s ruling in Citizens United
union and corporate money from
overwhelming American voters with
political speech. The resulting wave
of “special interest” money threatens
individual voting Americans.
2. Accept reasoned answers.

vast resources of corporations — in

The BCRA’s ban may regulate how

but it does not prevent anyone from

2. Accept reasoned answers.

47