“Separate but equal” It was a phrase that echoed through time as a decision that created an insurmountable amount of tension between races, until it was stricken down later in history. Though the decisions of Brown v. Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson were the exact opposite, Plessy v. Ferguson directly influenced the decision of Brown v. Board of Education. The court case Plessy v. Ferguson was case brought by Mr. Homer Plessy, who was appealing because he believed the rail car company had no reason to move him from his car just because he was ⅛ black, meaning his great grandfather was black. The Supreme Court’s decisions would go in favor of the rail car company and would echo into history the okayness of the US believing the separate
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Board of Education, it is imperative that you know what the majority opinion for Plessy v. Ferguson was. Of the eight judges that were present for Plessy v. Ferguson, seven justices agreed on the majority opinion and one for the dissenting. “The object of the amendment (14th) was to make the two races equal in the face of the law, but couldn’t have been to make them equal in society. (Cornell Law)” This quotation from the majority opinion states that the fourteenth amendment was crafted to apply to the eyes of the law, and how it should be unbiased, not to stop the segregation of races. Therefore, the justices were saying that the fourteenth amendment could not be applied to this case because there was no real legal bias in the case. “…the fourteenth amendment does not allow congress to meddle with things under state legislations control. It also doesn’t allow them to make law guaranteeing what private rights to have. (Cornell law)” What this quote says, in layman’s terms, is the the Federal government cannot meddle in the affairs under the state governments, such as how they put into place the equality of race under the law. It also states that the federal government can only get involved if they believe that the state government is not complying with laws made by the federal government, or amendments made to the constitution. After going in-depth in the majority opinion, we must now go to the
Board of Education, it is imperative that you know what the majority opinion for Plessy v. Ferguson was. Of the eight judges that were present for Plessy v. Ferguson, seven justices agreed on the majority opinion and one for the dissenting. “The object of the amendment (14th) was to make the two races equal in the face of the law, but couldn’t have been to make them equal in society. (Cornell Law)” This quotation from the majority opinion states that the fourteenth amendment was crafted to apply to the eyes of the law, and how it should be unbiased, not to stop the segregation of races. Therefore, the justices were saying that the fourteenth amendment could not be applied to this case because there was no real legal bias in the case. “…the fourteenth amendment does not allow congress to meddle with things under state legislations control. It also doesn’t allow them to make law guaranteeing what private rights to have. (Cornell law)” What this quote says, in layman’s terms, is the the Federal government cannot meddle in the affairs under the state governments, such as how they put into place the equality of race under the law. It also states that the federal government can only get involved if they believe that the state government is not complying with laws made by the federal government, or amendments made to the constitution. After going in-depth in the majority opinion, we must now go to the