What Is The Difference Between Plessy Vs State Of The United States

—Ratified after the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to protect the newly freed slaves from discriminatory action by state governments. A state was prohibited from depriving “any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law,” from denying “any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” and from abridging “the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”
—In 1890, the Louisiana General Assembly enacted a Separate Car Law requiring railroads in the state to provide “equal but separate accommodation for the white and colored races.”
—Enraged African Americans in New Orleans formed the Citizens’ Committee to challenge the segregation law. On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy took
—Plessy lost the state case, so he brought it to the
Supreme Court.
—John Howard Ferguson, the defendant in this case, was the judge presiding over Plessy v. The State of Louisiana, the state version of the case before it was brought to the Supreme Court.
—In this case, Plessy’s lawyers argued that the state law which required East Louisiana Railroad to segregate trains had denied him his rights under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments of the Constitution, which provided everyone equal treatment under the law. However, Ferguson ruled that Louisiana could regulate railroad companies because they operated within state boundaries. Plessy was convicted and sentenced to pay a $25 fine.
—The Supreme Court handed down its decision on May 18, 1896. The Court ruled against Homer Plessy by a 7 to 1 vote. The Court’s decision upheld segregation by approving “separate but equal” railroad facilities for African Americans.
—The Supreme Court argued that racial segregation in public places did not violate the United States Constitution if “separate but equal” facilities were maintained for both blacks and whites. The Supreme Court argued that state governments could force blacks to use separate
He stated, “Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens...The thin disguise of ‘equal’ accommodations...will not mislead anyone nor atone for the wrong this day done.”
—The Supreme Court upheld Ferguson’s conviction, concluding that state governments could force blacks to use separate facilities, stating, “if one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them on the same