Civil Rights Notes
ORIGINS OF CIVIL RIGHTS
3. The Election of 1876
1. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

The Supreme Court ruled that a slave was not
free simply because he had traveled on “free
soil.”

Northerners were appalled, southerners felt
vindicated.

This case was one of the main events that set
the nation on an irrevocable course toward the
Civil War.
2. The Civil War Amendments

13th Amendment (1866)

Banned
involuntary
(slavery).

This amendment is what actually
freed the slaves permanently –
Lincoln’s
Emancipation
Proclamation was a wartime
exercise of his power as
Commander-in-Chief.


Congress enacts Civil Rights Act of
1866 to remove any “badges” of
slavery and guarantee equal rights
for African Americans.
14th Amendment (1868)

Defined citizenship.

Guaranteed “due process of law.”

Guaranteed “equal protection of
the laws.”


servitude
Resulted from desire to make the
law of the Civil Rights Act of 1866
into a part of the Constitution.
15th Amendment (1870)

Guaranteed the right to vote
regardless of “race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.”

Was enforced by federal troops
until 1876.

Electoral votes disputed in four states.

Congressional commission to decide outcome.

Alleged “corrupt bargain” was struck:

Electoral votes would go to
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)

In exchange, Hayes would end
Reconstruction and pull out federal
troops from the South

Hayes denied to his death that there was any
bargain

Hayes is elected President.

Hayes ends Reconstruction and pulls federal
troops out of the South.
4. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

An African American, Homer Plessy, boarded a
train car meant only for whites, and was
arrested for violating the Louisiana law that
segregated whites and blacks.

The Supreme Court ruled that as long as States
provide “equal” facilities for both white
Americans and black Americans, then they
could be separated.

This established the “separate-but-equal”
doctrine. This was the Court’s interpretation of
the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th
Amendment.

Facilities were usually not “equal”.
5. Getting around the 15th Amendment (1876-1960’s)
African Americans were kept in a state of poverty,
and generally had poor educations

States would impose burdensome registration
requirements to discourage people from voting.

States would have poll taxes, which most
African Americans could not afford to pay.

States would have literacy tests, which were so
complex that most people could not pass—but
they were usually only given to African
Americans.

States would gerrymander congressional
districts so that each district had just under 50%
African Americans.
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS
1. 19th Amendment (1920)

Guaranteed the right to vote regardless of sex.

At the time of ratification, over half of the
states of the United States already guaranteed
the right to vote to women.
2. The Scottsboro Case (1931—)
6. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 (1960)

Provided for the appointment of federal voting
referees.

These referees would help qualified people
register to vote.
7. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (1964)

Based on Commerce Power.

Nine young African American men falsely
accused of raping two white women in Alabama

Outlawed discrimination in job-related matters.


Banned segregation in public places.
Trials overturned multiple times


Resulted in two Supreme Court cases:
Forbids the use of registration requirements in
a discriminatory manner.

Courts could
injunctions.

Right to an attorney means right to
effective counsel

No racial discrimination in jury
selection
President Truman signs Executive Order 9981
desegregating the U.S. military in 1948.

Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall forced
into retirement in 1949 for refusing to
implement the order.

Last segregated unit abolished in 1954.
4. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Schools in the years since Plessy were not
equal.

The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in
public schools was unconstitutional for two
reasons.

First: the facilities were not equal.

Second: even if they were, segregation existed
because one race felt itself superior to another
— so there is no way they could be equal as
long as segregation existed.

This was a new interpretation of the 14th
Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
5. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 (1957)

Established the United States Civil Rights
Commission.

Attorney General could seek injunctions to
prevent interference in an election.
those
who
violate
8. 24th Amendment (1964)

3. Military Integration

punish
Effectively banned the use of poll taxes by
states or the federal government.
9. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (1965)

Made the 15th Amendment truly effective.

Suspended the use of literacy tests in any State
or county in which over half of the voting
population had been registered in the election
of 1964.

Directed the Attorney General to challenge the
constitutionality of State poll taxes in court.
10. 26th Amendment (1971)

Guaranteed the right to vote if 18 or older,
regardless of age.