The American Civil War was fought in The United States from 1861 to 1865. Pulitzer Prize winning author James McPherson writes that, "The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states.” Although we had a Civil War so our country could stop fighting, we still did not completely achieve equality, due to not being able to overcome prejudice. The struggle to achieve equality was made even more difficult by the legislation of racism in the Plessy v. Ferguson case.
First, In 1892, Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He was arrested, after arguing with the conductor, and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. Then, he was brought before Judge Ferguson of the Criminal Court of New Orleans. The case upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal.” Plessy’s lawyer argued that the law was unconstitutional. Unfortunately, Segregation and discrimination was still a law after the case. This case gave prejudice a greater opportunity to spread segregation. John Marshall wrote, “Slavery as an institution tolerated by law would, it is true, have disappeared from our country, but there would remain a power in the States, by sinister legislation, to interfere with the blessings of freedom; to regulate civil rights common to all citizens, upon the basis of race; and to
Plessy v. Ferguson , a very important case of 1896 in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the legality of racial segregation. At the time of the ruling, segregation between blacks and whites already existed in most schools, restaurants, and other public facilities in the American South. In the Plessy decision, the Supreme Court ruled that such segregation did not violate the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. This amendment provides equal protection of the law to all U.S. citizens, regardless of race. The court ruled in Plessy that racial segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities for blacks and whites were “equal.”
The American Civil War took place from 1861-1865 was an inevitable event in the American history. More than 640,000 people were killed and millions more were injured during this massive war. The civil war was between the northern and the southern states where its most leading cause was slavery. Along with that, economic, political and social ideologies caused the civil war. The northern states, also known as the union, were more successful and antislavery compare to the southern confederates states. The northern states were more populated, had more industries, and believed in the Declaration of Independence statement that “all men are
The Civil War is something almost everyone has a general idea about. It is more than a huge part of America’s history and is the central event in America 's historical consciousness. This war, unlike the American Revolution which created the first American states, determined what kind of nation it would be. Though there are many reasons for the cause of the American Civil War, one of the main reasons is the different attitudes the North and the South had toward slavery. In January of 1863, The Emancipation Proclamation was
One of the most historic cases in Supreme Court history is the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896. Plessy v. Ferguson was a trial that ruled segregation as legal, as long as separate, equal facilities were provided for both races. After the Reconstruction era had dispersed, the Jim Crow laws appeared. The Separate Car Act was one of the Jim Crow laws enacted upon by the Louisiana State Legislature. This law stated that blacks and whites
The Plessy v. Ferguson (16 U.S. 537 (1896) case was argued on April 13, 1896 and decided May 18, 1896, which became the standard for a long line of “separate but equal” decisions upholding the Jim Crow laws, and its consequences echoed in American education, business, and polices for decades to come.
In the case Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 took place during the era of Jim Crow laws which advocated for separate but equal laws. Plessy was presumed colored due to the one-eighth black factor under the Louisiana law. It was held that Plessy was guilty since the race-based Jim Crow laws, which were applied in his conviction, were not in violation of the Constitution as long as the State of Louisiana proffered the separate but equal treatment. However, in the ruling, one jury member chose to dissent by stating that the Constitution is color blind and thus could not allow for different treatment of classes of citizens based on skin color.
After the Civil War, following the Compromise of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction, the protection for the rights of African American ended if there was any. Southern States had moved to impose a system of segregation on nearly all areas of life. New laws that required segregation that stirred “separate but equal” doctrine that disenfranchise African Americans for almost six decades. It is hard in this days and age to be able to imagine segregation as a law, but the remnants just change form and name. A petition file on June 7, 1892, in the supreme court Louisiana by a local shoemaker named Homer Plessy against Honorable judge John H. Ferguson. His filling set a test case to challenge Separate Car Act that prompt Plessy v. Ferguson case perhaps one of the most noticeable actions to nullify “separate but equal” doctrine.
The War between States also known as the Civil War is a crucial event in US history that determined whether the nation would have true equality. “While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation it would be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution: whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation
Plessy v. Ferguson challenged Louisiana's segregation laws by an African American man named Homer Plessy who sat in a white man’s seat
According to Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian, James McPherson, “The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states” (McPherson). States’ rights and the violations thereof contributed to the secession of the
Ferguson ruled Plessy guilty for breaking the law. However this case was also moved on to the Supreme Court because it had concerns with amendments in the Constitution. Plessy’s attorney argued that this interfered with the 13th and 14th amendment of the constitution which protects against discrimination. While this looked like a legitimate reason, but Justice Henry Brown argued that this was not the case. For the amendment protected race and the segregations that were happening did not count as discrimination but was keeping the races separated while giving colored people the same accommodations such as housing and jobs. He even argued that race would always be separated because of the colors, this in a way felt there would never be true equality. In the end, eight out of the nine justices did not support the arguments made on Plessy’s half and still ruled him
In 1892, Homer Plessy was a passenger in a railroad and who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court from New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. Although, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1896, Plessy v Ferguson inculcated the “separate but equal” doctrine and passed laws entailing the segregation of races, arguing that Jim Crow laws were constitutional. The case was devastating for African Americans allowing the oppression of an entire race. The Supreme Court system in practice was separate and unequal;
The term Civil War is defined as a war between citizens of the same country fighting for different views. The American Civil War (1861 – 1865) was the important step on the way to American independence and prosperity for all that is clearly visible today. As with every war, people pay with their lives for the benefit of the living and the future. We must look not only at the white people that took part and gave their lives in the Civil war, but at the brave African Americans that gave their lives as well to fight for what they believed in. Throughout the years before the Civil War, African Americans were questioned and thought to be less than dirt but when it came to the war, they proved to be valuable and have a significant impact on the war and the advancements in America.
Plessy v. Ferguson was a Supreme Court Case regarding the state laws of racial segregation in public facilities and “separate but equal”. On June 7, 1892, Plessy bought a first-class ticket at the Press Street Depot and boarded a "whites only" car of the East Louisiana Railroad in New Orleans, Louisiana. When the train stopped
The Civil War was fought from 1861-1865. Two groups had emerged in America: the Union and the Confederation. While the Northern Union states wanted to abolish slavery, the Confederate states in the south were against it, for the fact that many southern states relied on the slave industry to keep their plantation afloat. The Civil War not only was begun to determine whether or not slavery should be abolished altogether, but whether or not unclaimed territory in the west should be adopted into the States as slave states or not. This war was incredibly brutal, and historians now believe that over 850,000 men lost their lives. The road leading to this disunity was made up of several events over time that continued to stir up controversy.