Chapter 30 Primary Source Assignment

Several of these sources grapple with questions of who fully belongs in American democracy and who has been marginalized or excluded. Obama addresses the legacy of racial exclusion and the ongoing work of inclusion; Kennedy’s Obergefell opinion extends constitutional protections to same-sex couples long denied recognition; and his Boumediene opinion addresses whether constitutional rights extend to non-citizens detained by the U.S. government. Using these three sources, analyze how each constructs arguments for expanding the boundaries of constitutional protection. What principles or rhetorical strategies do they share? Where do their approaches differ, and what do these differences reveal about the challenges of defining American belonging in the twenty-first century?

30. The Recent Past