The Fourteenth Amendment

Paper Summary:

Discusses the intepretation by the Supreme Court during the aftermath of the Civil War. Purpose of 14th Amendment to establish the status and rights of former slaves. Shift of power from States to federal government. Impact of Plessy v. Ferguson and standard of equal-but-separate. Enforced separation of the races.

From the Paper:

"THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: DUE PROCESS OF RACISM

It is the explicit obligation of the Supreme Court to interpret the laws of the land; perhaps at no other time in our nation s history has this task proved so daunting and controversial as during the aftermath of the Civil War. In particular, the Fourteenth Amendment provided cause for intense debate. Designed to establish the status and rights of former slaves, this amendment also served to shift the balance of power in the United States in favor of the federal government over the states (Thomas 17). However, the Supreme Court would, in the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson, utilize the Fourteenth Amendment to uphold racially divisive state legislation, validating the power of the state in a decision that would ultimately set back the civil rights movement in this country by at least half a century."

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