Civil Liberties

Abstract

<p>Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. These are probably three pretty familiar terms to those who have ever picked up a government textbook or turned on the news; they are freedoms which refer to the basic trio of civil liberties that we, as Americans, claim. Oftentimes, it is easy to confuse civil liberties with civil rights, but there is a small distinction between the two. Civil liberties are limitations which spell out what the government cannot do to its people and are laid out in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Civil rights, on the other hand, are the rights of equal protection under the law to all Americans, guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. These provide rules for what the government has to do for its people.But what really are civil liberties? What do they protect?</p>