ABSTRACT
The term "civil liberties" describes both those areas of life in which individuals have the right to be free from governmental interference and the right of the people to be treated equally by the government. The American approach to civil liberties is tied to the belief that government is created and empowered by the people. Although civil liberties restrict the government, they also limit the majority, in whose name the government acts. Civil liberties are dynamic rather than static entities. Their boundaries change as society does, whether because of evolving views or technological innovations. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, enacted after the Civil War, made the right to equal treatment by government a key element of civil liberties. During the first century and a half of the nation's existence, the federal government was relatively small and uninvolved in issues that would have presented a threat to civil liberties.
