and to be treated as such. In doing so, it ignored the fact that free African American men had full voting rights in five of the original states since the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The decision served to reinforce the fears of northerners and abolitionists alike that the south had the intention of spreading the infernal institution of slavery to every corner of the U.S. The ruling had the effect of enlarging the sociopolitical divide between the north and the south and brought the nation closer to civil war.The next critical Supreme Court ruling on the issue of civil rights was in 1892 with the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Homer Adolph Plessy was a shoemaker from the state of Louisiana. Although Plessy was seven eighths white and only one eighth black. According to the law in Louisiana, he was still required to use the facilities designated as “colored”. In an attempt to challenge the law, Plessy, with the support of civil rights activists, bought a ticket for the first class coach on the East Louisiana Rail Road. Plessy boarded and sat down in the first class coach. Just after the train departed the station the conductor confronted Plessy. The conductor asked him if he was black, Plessy told him he was and that he refused to leave the coach. The train was stopped; Plessy was arrested and formally charged at the fifth street police station. Even though the judge that tried the case had previously ruled that separate cars for intrastate railroads were unconstitutional, Plessy still lost the case. Plessy appealed that decision and the case was handed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana. He argued that the separate car act violated the 13th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. After being found guilty once again the case was then heard by the Supreme Court of the United States. After arguing his case for the third time, a seven person majority found Plessy guilty again. The ruling stated that the s...
