Justice Henry B. Brown of Michigan ended in a 7-1 decision of the Court that backed up the Louisiana law requiring segregation. Once the Court backed up the Louisiana law, it was accepting to have a racial divison. He mentioned that the law did not go against the 13th or 14th Amendments. Then he mentioned how the 13th Amendment related only to slavery, and the 14th amendment was not planned to give African Americans social equality but only political and civil equality with white people. This is the turning point that caused the war between the blacks and the whites.
In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States found Plessy guilty. Justice Henry Brown spoke for the seven people and said:
"That [the Separate Car Act] does not conflict with the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery...is too clear for argument...A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races -- a distinction which is founded in the color of the two races, and which must always exist so long as white men are distinguished from the other race by color -- has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races...The object of the [Fourteenth A]mendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either." (Cozzens)
Brown wrote that “Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences….” And using this line would cause a political debate and Court opinion for the next 60 years. This means the legislation can’t change the way the public feels. Brown made his point that “If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.” Then the Court finally declared that the Louisiana law played a good role for the State’s “police power” and was for the public good.
The Court legalized segregation and caused a gap between the blacks and whites. It was constitutional as long if the “facilities were equal”. The “separate but equal doctrine” kept the racial lines divided in America for over a century. One of the many turning points was how the African Americans felt that their hopes to finally have civil rights was destroyed, how a caste system was built under the constitional law, and how it was tolerated to have white southern bigots to prevent blacks from moving up in society.
Segregation became an issue that remained for the next 60 years. (“Info Please”)
In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States found Plessy guilty. Justice Henry Brown spoke for the seven people and said:
"That [the Separate Car Act] does not conflict with the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery...is too clear for argument...A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races -- a distinction which is founded in the color of the two races, and which must always exist so long as white men are distinguished from the other race by color -- has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races...The object of the [Fourteenth A]mendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either." (Cozzens)
Brown wrote that “Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences….” And using this line would cause a political debate and Court opinion for the next 60 years. This means the legislation can’t change the way the public feels. Brown made his point that “If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.” Then the Court finally declared that the Louisiana law played a good role for the State’s “police power” and was for the public good.
The Court legalized segregation and caused a gap between the blacks and whites. It was constitutional as long if the “facilities were equal”. The “separate but equal doctrine” kept the racial lines divided in America for over a century. One of the many turning points was how the African Americans felt that their hopes to finally have civil rights was destroyed, how a caste system was built under the constitional law, and how it was tolerated to have white southern bigots to prevent blacks from moving up in society.
Segregation became an issue that remained for the next 60 years. (“Info Please”)