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1896
During the later part of Reconstruction, Southern State legislatures started enforcing more Jim Crow laws to legally make African Americans more like second class citizens
When the Supreme Court ruled on the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 the Court stated that the 14th amendment did not guarantee that private segregation would happen under the Equal Protection Clause created by this amendment
However, they had not stated anything about the segregation in public
Louisiana had created a law in 1890 that required separate seating of the railcars based on race
There was a fine of twenty-five dollars or a jail term of up to twenty days for violators
Homer Plessy was a successful businessman who lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
He was only one-eighth African American
He was returning from New Orleans to Baton Rouge
Acting as part of the Citizens’ Committee to try to end Jim Crow Laws, Plessy sat in the wrong part of the train intentionally to try to start a case
He refused to move to a different compartment and got arrested and charged on June 7th 1892
He petitioned the Louisiana Supreme Court for a formal written order against the trial court judge Ferguson to get rid of the charges for violation of the State Law
Plessy was convicted and fined but then chose to appeal his case to the Supreme Court
The 14th amendment: no state can make a law that deprives a citizen from privileges or immunities given to U.S. citizens
The 13th amendment: abolishes slavery stating “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment of crime…”
Did the Louisiana State law which required segregation violate the 13th or 14th amendments?
The Question
The Supreme Court ruled against PlessyThey said that the “equal protection of the
laws” stated in the 14th amendment gave the state the privilege to have “separate but equal” facilities
The court also said the law did not violate the 13th amendments banning of slavery
Henry Brown claimed the 14th amendment tried “to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social…equality.”
For the 13th amendment he felt a law that was suggesting a division between races has nothing to do with slavery or forced service
John M. Harlan was a former slave owner was against racial division
He thought there is no dominating class established by law in this country.
He said “…Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”
Dissenting (against)
Set the precedent of separate but equal is okay
It lead to a ton of Jim Crow laws, over the next half a century, being declared constitutional
It wasn’t until brown vs. Broad of Education that separate but equal was declared no longer constitutional
The Citizens’ Committee supported Plessy because they felt segregated facilities were a violation of the Equal Protection Clause
Because he was an active citizen he should not have been denied rights; should not have been made to give up his seat.
The Louisiana Law violated the Equal Protection Clause and thus was not constitutional
Each state has the right to make laws to protect the public’s best interest
The segregation of facilities was the publics desire in Louisiana
The separate but equal facilities provided the requirement made by the 14th amendment while satisfying white citizens demands
The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 made segregation in private matters not a concern of the government, so why should a state be prohibited from enacting laws that allowed such things?
For Louisiana State
We would have supported the courts decision that the Louisiana law was justified because the law was not in any way violating the 13th or 14th amendment and was supported by the precedent set by the Civil Rights Cases of 1883
The 13th amendment dealing with slavery was not violated because no one was being forced to be owned by anyone or do any labors
The 14th amendment was not violated because he was still allowed to take the same transportation from point A to point B
www.pbs.org/.../antebellum/landmark_plessy.htmlhttp://www.infoplease.com/us/supreme-court/
cases/ar29.htmlPatrick, John J. “Plessy v. Ferguson.” Oxford
University Press, 2001. eLibrary. Web. 18 Feb 2011.
“PLESSY V. FERGUSON.” The Readers Companion to American History. 01 Dec. 1991. eLibrary. Web. 18 Feb 2011.
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/plessy/plessy.html
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