Question
How did the Supreme Court justify its ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson?
The court argued that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 only applied to private actions, not government actions.
The court argued that the Equal Protection Clause in the US Constitution only applied to gender discrimination.
The court argued that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments extended political rights to African Americans, but not social rights.
The court argued that the violence that would result from forcing desegregation on US society would hurt the country as a whole.
The court argued that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 only applied to private actions, not government actions.
The court argued that the Equal Protection Clause in the US Constitution only applied to gender discrimination.
The court argued that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments extended political rights to African Americans, but not social rights.
The court argued that the violence that would result from forcing desegregation on US society would hurt the country as a whole.
Answers
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
The correct choice is the third one.
In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the Court held that the Fourteenth (and Fifteenth) Amendments protected political and civil rights but did not require social integration. The majority reasoned that laws requiring “separate but equal” facilities did not imply the legal inferiority of African Americans and so did not violate equal protection. (Justice H. B. Brown’s opinion asserted the Constitution could not enforce social equality.) Justice John Marshall Harlan’s famous dissent argued the opposite, calling the Constitution “color-blind.”
In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the Court held that the Fourteenth (and Fifteenth) Amendments protected political and civil rights but did not require social integration. The majority reasoned that laws requiring “separate but equal” facilities did not imply the legal inferiority of African Americans and so did not violate equal protection. (Justice H. B. Brown’s opinion asserted the Constitution could not enforce social equality.) Justice John Marshall Harlan’s famous dissent argued the opposite, calling the Constitution “color-blind.”