The Landmark Supreme Court Case of Plessy v. Ferguson

The Landmark Supreme Court Case of Plessy v. Ferguson

Introduction

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is a symbol of the United States Supreme Court case, United States, supporting the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public places in accordance with the doctrine of "separate but equal."

The decision was adopted by a vote of 7 to 1 (Justice David Josiah Brewer was not involved in the decision), with the majority opinion written by Justice Henry Billings Brown and the dissent written by Justice John Marshall Harlan. "Separate but equal" remained standard doctrine in U.S. law until his retirement in 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

Discussion

Official segregation by race was the defining feature of South from the late nineteenth to mid twentieth century. In some laws are against persons on the grounds of the white and the benefits of conservation in all sectors of society. To avoid conflicts with the South, the federal government passed segregation in the military and other settings. A real model of segregation was a result of the Northern state laws that before the Civil War separated on the basis of race in education and other settings. Official segregation in the South began in 1887 when Florida passed a law requiring racial transport separately. A few years after the law was introduced as the separate official transport. Within a few years after its introduction, the official segregation was widespread in the South. Despite its roots in the north, formal separation is well-suited to the needs of those who have lamented the passing of slavery and seeks to preserve its cultural advantage.

The rapid spread of laws that established a comprehensive system of racial segregation has long caused problems for his creation of racial segregation over time creates problems for its constitutionality. The turning point in this direction occurred when the Louisiana law that required separate railway cars for whites and blacks has been challenged as a violation of the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments. The law states that the railway company to provide equal but separate accommodations for white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches to the section in order to provide independent housing. " This law was challenged by Homer Plessy, who was described as a man of "seven-eighths Caucasian and African blood session [] a mixture of colored blood was not noticeable." In an effort to curb the state application of its law requiring racial segregation, Plessy sued Judge John H. Ferguson, who was appointed to the presidency of the criminal court. Plessy reason in this respect was denied, and appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

In rejecting the challenge Plessy constitutionality of the law, the Supreme Court has shown how important the Thirteenth Amendment became minimal. The Court limited the role of an amendment to ban real states "easement, property of mankind as a chattel, or at least the department of ...