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Civil Rights Vs Civil Liberties Essay

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The distinction between civil rights and civil liberties is that civil rights equate to protection from unequal treatment based on certain characteristics such as race, gender, and disability. Civil rights are guaranteed under the thirteenth and fourteenth amendment due to the fact that it enacted the right to social and economic equality regardless of race, gender, and disability, and it enacted the Equal Protection Clause. Civil liberties, on the other hand, are determined over the years by the courts or equate to basic rights and freedoms that are protected and are mentioned in the Bill of Rights or the Constitution. Examples of basic rights include freedom of speech, the right to privacy, fair and speedy trial, the right to marry, and …show more content…

Ferguson (1896). Jim Crow laws, or infamously known as Black codes, aimed towards newly-freed slaves and restricted the African-American citizens from improving their status and even their voting rights. Because it sought against African-Americans, it became an unjust treatment based on race. Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine that “state segregation of the races involving railway carriages… provided segregated facilities are equal. A state law that segregates the races on railway carriages does not violate…the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement for equal protection of the law (Woll viii).” This case was also infringing civil rights based on race, which was overturned 58 years by Brown v. Board of Education.
An example of violating civil liberties would be the Brown v. Board of Education case. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), it stated that “the state laws…based on race violated the Equal Protection of the Laws Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Woll 132).” The act of violating basic rights or, in this case, the fourteenth amendment would be violating civil liberties. Furthermore, the act of enacting the “separate but equal” doctrine towards the African-Americans would be an example of unequal treatment based on race; therefore, it would also violate civil

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Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (U.S. 1896) gave states the legal right to require persons of different races to use separate but equal segregated facilities. But that ruling was struck down in the landmark case of Brown v. Bd. of Educ. , 347 U.S. 483 (U.S. 1954), In that case the court held that separate but equal public schools based on race is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is unconstitutional. In upholding that decision, Cooper v. Aaron held that state governments must comply with Supreme Court rulings and court orders based on the its interpretation of the

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Ferguson case was about how the slaves had to use a separate door, restroom, hotels, hospital and other public services to serve equal but separate accommodations for African Americans. This doctrine was making a step toward equality but yet it was still unfair that the Africans couldn't eat or do anything with the white people. In the sole dissent, Justice John Marshall Harlan -- a former slaveowner -- said the ruling would "stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens.” ( full citation-Plessy vs. Ferguson, Judgement, Decided May 18, 1896; Records of the Supreme Court of the United States; Record Group 267; Plessy v. Ferguson, 163, #15248, National

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Near the end of the Reconstruction Era, laws and amendments were passed to give African American’s rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed to forbid racial discrimination in public areas. However, Congress ended up repealing the law saying that it was unconstitutional. As a result, more laws dealing with segregation were passed. Plessy v. Ferguson was an important landmark court case because it paved way for African American civil rights movements that challenged the laws under “separate but equal.”

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Although the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln and the conclusion of the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the United States, these events did not end racism in the U.S. With the rise of organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, who were determined to maintain their ideology of white supremacy in the United States, and the lack of protection for violence, African Americans were facing tough times. Although the 14th Amendment, which was passed in 1868, dictated equal rights and protection for all citizens of the United States, the 1896 ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson went against this amendment. The Supreme Court ruling of “Separate but Equal” in Plessy v Ferguson was both biased against Plessy and went

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In 1896, the United States Supreme Court decided in favor of maintaining segregation in the now infamous case, Plessy v Ferguson. While claiming to set the standard “separate but equal,” the Plessy v Ferguson decision set back racial equality for almost 60 years, calling into question whether the United States Supreme Court had been granted too much power. It was on May 18th in 1896 when this historical decision changed the lives of many. The Plessy v Ferguson decision codified the practice of racial segregation. The ruling of the case provided justification for segregation of public and private institutions.

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During this time African Americans lost voting rights, separate public accommodations were instituted, legal segregation occurred, and the separate but equal aspect came into view. Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in the constitutional law that stated that racial segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. It guaranteed equal protection under the law to all citizens. For example, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson it was ruled that racial segregated railway cars did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. In document 2D, Justice John Marshal Harlan writes “The arbitrary separation of citizens, on the basis of race, while they are on a public highway, is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with the civil freedom and the equality before the law established by the Constitution.

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Several challenges to the law was increased in the courts. In 1883 the Supreme Court ruled in the Civil Rights cases that the act was invalid since it addressed social as opposed to civil rights. Furthermore, the court noticed that the Fourteenth Amendment secured individuals against infringement of their civil rights by states, not by the activities of people, for instance when a owner of a lodging facility declined to lease space to an African American. In the wake of a choice state councils all through the South established laws that legalized racial separation in basically all open spots from hospitals, to schools, even dining places. The Supreme Court supported the Jim Crow laws that authorized racial separation in its historic point of Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896.

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In the case Brown Vs Board of Education the segregation of public schools was based on which race was allowed by states if the facilities were “equal.” Brown overturned that decision. Regardless of the “equality” of facilities, the Court ruled that separate is not unequal. Thus public school segregation based on race was found in violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. (1875)

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Civil liberties are different than Civil Rights. Where Civil Rights are to prevent the government from abusing us by treating the people wrong and unequally. The Civil Liberties are there to limit the government power on the people. It is there to protect our freedom. That is why we have our freedom of speech which protects us people from having the government limit what we say.

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Keeping African Americans segregated and not treating their condition’s equal led to a even more discrimination resulting in a lack of rights. In the 1896, Plessey vs Ferguson case, the Supreme Court stated that all facilities could be segregated, but they had to be equal. “Requiring railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that state to provide equal, but separate accommodations for the white and [African Americans] races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train.” (Document F). This quote shows that the train compartments were required to be kept separate but equal.

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The Fourteenth Amendment mainly focus on all men or women are created equal. But in the ‘’Plessy v. Ferguson’’ article, the author quote, ''Separate but equal’’ means that even though the black and white people are not together, but both of the races will be provided with public facilities, such as drinking fountains, hotels, toilets and education. These laws were called the Jim Crow laws. The supreme court says that separation does not mean that one is less equal. If blacks were to take it differently so it would be their own fault.

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The U.S. Supreme Court is affirmed by ruling in favor of Ferguson ruling that mandatory racial segregation was not in violation of the 14th Amendment. During the court appeal the term “separate, but equal was never used; therefore, the court’s ruling was able to established that principle as a means of justifying segregation. The stamp of approval was placed on the doctrine of “separate but equal” because Homer Plessy’s 13th and 14th Amendment arguments were rejected.

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In the Plessy v Ferguson case, it resulted in the agreement of ‘separate but equal’ which is the opposite of what was needed to bring the Civil Rights movement forward. This is opposition to African American’s because they ruled for segregation. The Strauder v West Virginia case is also an opposition to African American’s as it was ruled that only White American’s were to serve as judges in the Supreme Court. Finally, the Williams v Mississippi case was opposition to African American’s because it ruled that to be able to vote, you had to be able to pass a literacy test. This was opposition to African American’s as a lot of them would not be able to pass a literacy test as they would not have been educated well enough if at all to be able to pass a literacy test.

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OVT 2305-73005 Sherry Sharifian Feb 10th. 2018 Jun Seong Paik Civil Right and liberties Liberties and rights are the forces that all citizens can have, but they express a different meaning. Liberties from the dictionary meaning is an external constraint, a condition that cannot be tied to anything and can be done at will, and a right is a force given by law to enjoy certain life benefits. As such, liberties and rights can be felt in many ways in the dictionary meaning.

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Particularly in the South, they continued to seek opportunities to legal slavery. As a result, Southerners pass a state law, Black Codes, during reconstruction. This law restricted the civil rights and public activities of legally freed African Americans. Owning weapons, freedom of movement, and land ownerships were against Black Codes. Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), the court case that upheld authority of the state law claiming, “separate-but-equal facilities for whites and blacks” , led up to another significant factor, segregation, which arose to be controversy in mid-1900s.

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