Civil Rights After Reconstruction

• Author: Jack Fruchtman
• Profession: Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program in Law and American Civilization at Towson University, Maryland
• Pages: 115-125

American Constitutional History: A Brief Introduction, First Edition. Jack Fruchtman.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Civil Rights After Reconstruction

During the free market republic, the federal government both restricted

and extended individual rights, depending on the specific laws in dispute.

Ten years after the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases, the Court overwhelmingly

overturned a federal law, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which required

equality in places of public accommodation. It was one of the last acts of

the Radical Republicans. Under the act, owners or operators of schools,

churches, taverns, hotels, restaurants, cemeteries, and other such

establishments could not deny to anyone “the full enjoyment thereof ”

on the basis of race or religion. If they did, they faced criminal charges in

federal court.

Equality and African‐Americans

In the Civil Rights Cases, by an eight to one vote, the Court held

that the Thirteenth or Fourteenth Amendment did not focus on

private discrimination (Box8.1). The Thir teenth outlawed slavery

and nothing more, while the Fourteenth protected individuals

against discrimination involving state, not private action. The Court

made clear that equality under the law never extended to social

equality, but only to legal equality. Black and white people could

equally enter into contracts, make purchases, and go to court, but