Civil Rights Vs Civil Liberties Essay

There is a large difference between civil rights and civil liberties, but it is easy for one to become confused on which is which and what exactly each means. Civil rights are basically the general rights of people to be free from unequal and unfair treatment based on things such as gender, race, ethnicity, disability, etc., whereas civil liberties are more general freedoms and rights that are guaranteed, as they are written in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, or that have been established by the court system. Civil rights can be defined as actions that are taken by government officials to create equal conditions for all people. Civil liberties are there to protect us from the government restraining us from these legal rights. Some of American’s civil liberties include freedom of speech, the right to marry, the right to vote, freedom of privacy, etc. These are things that are either listed in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or made by the Court system. For example, if there is a promotion available at a job, it would be violating someone’s civil rights to restrict them from that promotion because of …show more content…
These things are what makes America the free country that it is. Civil rights and liberties give us the ability to speak freely, vote, participate in the religion we want, publish what we desire, and be secure, to a certain extent. Because of civil liberties and rights, us Americans can live out our lives the way we desire and are used to living. We may not realize or appreciate it as much as we should, but if we had these things taken away, I believe we would then understand. For instance, we are used to being able to say what we want about government on socials medias of all kinds, without our freedom of speech, we could and would easily be punished for this, at who knows what extend. We should appreciate our civil rights and liberties because without them, we would not be happy or content with life in this