Professional Documents
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Graded Assignment
Korematsu v. the United States (1944)
Use the background information and the primary sources in the Graded Assignment: Primary Sources sheet to
answer the following questions.
(2 points)
1. What did Fred T. Korematsu do that resulted in his arrest and conviction? Score
Answer: He refused to leave California.
(2 points)
2. According to the first paragraph from the excerpts of the majority opinion, what did the U.S. Score
government believe some Japanese Americans would do if they were allowed to remain free
on the West Coast?
Answer: Threaten national defense and security.
(2 points)
3. The majority of the court believed that compulsory exclusion of large groups of citizens from Score
their homes was okay in what situation?
Answer: When ethnic groups demonstrate hostility.
(2 points)
4. What did the dissenting justices think about the power of military authorities? Score
Answer: That there should be limits to military action when martial law has not been declared.
(2 points)
5. The dissenting opinion raises the fact that Japanese Americans were being deprived of what Score
rights?
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History | Graded Assignment | Korematsu v. the United States
Answer: Equal protection under the law and due process as outlined in the 5th Amendment.
(40 points)
6. After years of lobbying by the Japanese American community, the U.S. Congress passed Score
the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which was signed into law by then President Ronald Reagan.
Through this piece of legislation, the U.S. government formally apologized for its actions—
for putting over a hundred thousand of its own citizens of Japanese ancestry into internment
camps. In addition, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 authorized a $20,000 payment to be made to every
living survivor of the internment camps.
Using evidence from the opinions of the Korematsu v. the United States case, write a letter to be read
on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which explains why the U.S. government
issued this apology and payments to the survivors of the internment camps.
Refer to the rubric and scoring instructions on the next page to see how your teacher will
grade your assignment.
Answer: Here's what I put. The government issued this apology due to the Korematsu v the united states case
which consisted of The Korematsu attorneys arguing that they broke the 14th amendment. Only people of
japanese descent were to check into assembly centers. The legislation apologized and paid $20,000 to each
victim in order to compensate. The legislation was thought that the government's actions were a failure of political
leadership and was an act of war paranoia and racism.
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History | Graded Assignment | Korematsu v. the United States
Rubric Score
Category
Content
____ X 6 = ____
Organization
____ X 1 = ____
Spelling,
Punctuation,
and Grammar ____ X 1 = ____
Total Score:
To calculate the final grade for this assignment, add the scores for each rubric topic for question 6 for a maximum
score of 40 points. Notice that you will give greater weight to Content by multiplying the score for that category by
6. The scores for Organization and Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar are not weighted. Add the total to the
totals for questions 1–5 to arrive at a final score.
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