AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - Joyce

After reading the handout "Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)", write a two-paragraph journal entry addressing the following:

Why did Justice Harlen (the sole dissenting vote on the 9-member Supreme Court) determine that the Louisiana law violated the 14th Amendment equal protection clauses (see below) even though, as the majority justices pointed out, the law required equal accomodation for whies and blacks? Explain. Also, Looking at the wording of the 14th Amendment (italicized in bold below) do you agree with Justice Harlen's reasoning or the reasoning of the majority? Explain. (link on moodle site to PLESSY:

http://moodle.rsu1.org/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=717) or click on "Constitutional Cases" on the American Experience -- Joyce moodle site and scroll down to "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL EDUCATION BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION" and click on it to access PLESSY

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.