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Civil Rights
Unlike civil liberties, a civil right is enacted and protected through legislation, wherein any violation warrants and gives cause for action in both civil and criminal proceedings. Examples of civil rights include the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom from involuntary servitude, and many others.
In the United States, the Thirteenth Amendment (1865), the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) marked the beginnings of enforceable civil rights law. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and gave the right of citizenship to exslaves and anyone born in the United States. This monumental step was betrayed by the “black codes” enacted in many states during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War. Congress then passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which ...