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Declaration of Independence (July 4th, 1776)
Tensions rose between the colonies and Britain amid the Revolutionary War. In mid-June 1776, a five-person committee, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, was tasked with drafting a formal statement of the colonies’ intentions. Congress formally adopted the declaration of independence on July 4th, 1776.

Federalist Papers (May 28th, 1788)
Statesmen Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay were leading supporters of the Constitution and the vital national government. In October 1787, they wrote a series of 85 essays arguing for the ratification of the proposed U.S. Constitution. The papers provided the philosophical underpinning in support of the new Constitution. The Federalist appeared in the Independent Journal and addressed the People of the State of New York.

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Alien and Sedition Acts (July, 1798)
In 1794, the Federalist administration of George Washington signed the Jay Treaty with Britain, significantly improving Anglo-American relations but angering the French (who were then at war with Britain).
Soon after, President Adam sent a three-member delegation to Paris to clear things up. Instead,  the infamous XYZ French representatives demanded a $250,000 bribe, as well as a loan of $10 million.
Americans refused. The XYZ affair caused nationwide sparking outrage and calls for war against France.
Amid mounting tensions, Federalists accused Republicans of being in league with France against their own country's government. Writing in June 1798, Alexander Hamilton called the Jeffersonians "more Frenchmen than Americans."
Fearing of infiltrating enemy spies, the Federalist majority in Congress passed four new laws in June and July 1798, collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts that restricted foreign residents' activities in the country and limited freedom of speech and the press.

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Scott v. Sandford (April 1846 - March 6th, 1857)
Dred Scott lived in Illinois, a free state, and in the Louisiana territory, where the  Missouri Compromise of 1820 had forbidden slavery. He filed a suit in Missouri court for losing his freedom there. His main point was that he resided in a free state, so he’s a free man. In opposition, her master, Sandford, maintained that no “negro” or descendant of slaves could be citizens. He proved her point by Article III of the Constitution.
Question: Was Dred Scott free or slave?
The majority held that “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves,” whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore did not have the standing to sue in federal court.
Taney, the majority speaker of the Supreme Court, further held that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. Showing deference to the Missouri courts, the conclusion held that moving to a free state did not render Scott emancipated. Finally, he wrote that the Fifth amendment protected slave owner rights because enslaved workers were their legal property.

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Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution  (June 13th, 1866)
On July 28, 1868, The states passed the fourteenth amendment, which grants citizenship to anyone born or naturalized - someone who has legally immigrated to the United States and met the requirements - in the United States. The amendment stated that every citizen has the right to life, liberty, and property, without due process of law, and all citizens have equal protection by the law.
The due process and equal protection clauses strengthened federal judicial powers. The amendment, originally drafted to protect the rights of newly freed slaves from the States, was used to constrain businesses' unfair practices. According to some scholars, the amendment, which granted Congress the power to enforce its substantive provisions, laid the foundation for future federal expansion.
The clauses outlawed the enforcing of any law that can undermine the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.

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What is the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause?

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Plessy v. Ferguson (May 18th, 1896)
Louisiana enacted the Separate Car Act, which required separate railway cars for blacks and whites.
In 1892, Homer Adolph Plessy, who was of "seven-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African blood." agreed to participate in a test to challenge the Act. The Committee of Citizens, a group of New Orleans residents who sought to repeal the Act, solicited Plessy, who was technically black under Louisiana law, to occupy the "whites only" car of a Louisiana train.
On June 7, 1892, Plessy bought a train ticket from New Orleans bound for Louisiana.
He took a vacant seat in a whites-only car. He refused to leave at the conductor's insistence. He was arrested and jailed.
Convicted by a New Orleans court of violating the 1890 law, Plessy filed a petition against John Ferguson, the presiding judge, claiming that the law violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th amendment.
The Court ruled that the protections of the 14th amendment only applied to civil and political rights (like jury service and voting), not social rights.
Finally, the 1896 landmark Supreme Court decision ruled "Separate But Equal" incidents as constitutional. Intrastate railroads were among many segregated public facilities the verdict sanctioned; others included buses, hotels, theaters, swimming pools, and schools.

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Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (July 10th, 1953)
In 1953, Congress created the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. The CIR was an independent, bipartisan, temporary study commission composed of persons appointed by the President and Congress. Its primary goal was "to strengthen the American federal system and improve the ability of federal, state, and local governments to work together cooperatively, efficiently, and effectively."
They believed that the nation strengthened when local and federal powers coordinated and worked to resolve issues together.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas  (Dec 9th, 1952 - May 17th, 1954)
Fifty-eight years after the ruling of "Separate But Equal" as constitutional, the supreme court now faced similar discrimination, but this time, mistreatments in the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
Oliver Brown sued the Board of Education after Topeka's all-white elementary schools denied acceptance to his daughter.
Brown argued that white schools weren't equal to black schools, and that violated the so-called "Separate But Equal" ruling and the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, which holds that no state can "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
The Kansas courts agreed that this separation led to a "sense of inferiority" and other detrimental effects on the colored students. The court still upheld the "Separate But Equal" doctrine.
Thurgood Marshall, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, served as chief attorney for the plaintiffs.
The Supreme Court was divided on the issue until Chief Justice Fred Vinson, in favor of the separate schools, died. Dwight Eisenhower nominated Earl Warren, then governor of CA, to fill the vacancy.
Displaying considerable political skill and determination, the new chief justice succeeded in engineering a unanimous verdict against school segregation.
On May 17, 1954, Warren stated that separate but equal was "inherently unequal" and had no place in the United States. Finally, the court ruled that the plaintiffs were being "deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment."

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Baker v. Carr (1961 - 1962)
Charles W. Baker and other Tennessee citizens alleged that a 1901 law that apportioned the seats for the state's General Assembly was unequal to that of the nearby States. He argued that the lack of seats in Tennessee undermines Tennessee's people's vote and, thus, unconstitutional according to the 14th amendment, which guarantees everyone's equal protection by law.
Question: Did the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over questions of legislative apportionment?
The Supreme Court judges held that this was a political question and cannot be responded to by the Judicial Branch. Later in 1926, the court reversed the decision and had that that was, in fact, a suit revolving around the constitution since it deals with the 14th amendment and the unequal separation of districts. Since the districts were drawn, undermined some people's votes, and overvalued the other, this directly had to be resolved and end to the Supreme Court.

The ‘Great Society’  (1964 - 1965)
After the sudden and unexpected assassination of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn as president. People felt sorrow, empathy, and sympathy for JFK and LBJ.
The former vice president took advantage of this situation to push forward JFK and his agenda. The Great Society was an ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation, and programs spearheaded by President LBJ to end poverty, reduce crime, abolish inequality, and improve society and the environment. In May 1964, he held a speech about the "Great Society" at the University of Michigan. With his eye on re-election that year, Johnson set in motion his Great Society, the most extensive social reform plan in modern history.

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Pres. Ronald Reagan’s New Federalism  (January 20th, 1981 – January 20th, 1989)
Pres. Ronald Reagan implemented a whole new type of policy and favored some significant changes in the United States. He mainly believed that the government and the states are separate and have different responsibilities.
He suggested that returning responsibility for domestic policies to state governments would give the states greater discretion in crafting and implementing the procedures, require less federal monetary assistance, and reduce the need for federal regulations and oversight.
Reagan’s new federalism shut down many federal agencies and departments.
Since he handed over power to the states, he would deal with the rest of the nation’s problems through using executive orders and the congress. However, many more of his proposals failed after confronting practical politics, specific programs, and active interest groups.
One bill he signed contained crossover sanctions, which deprived states of federal highway funds if the states refused to raise the minimum alcoholic purchase and drinking age to 21.

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Pres. Bill Clinton’s - Reinventing Government Initiative (March 3rd, 1993 - January 20th, 2001)
The National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR), originally the National Performance Review, was the Clinton-Gore Administration's inter-agency task force to reform and streamline the way the federal government works.
Clinton's reform initiative, led by vice president Al Gore, called for importing private sector efficiency techniques to make government more results-oriented and less costly. After an initial six-month of conferences and planning, NPR sought 1,200 changes to "serve customers better," relieve businesses of unneeded regulations, encourage softer state and federal relationships, and exploit technology to widen access to federal services and information.