jan 1, 1876 - U.S. v. Cruikshank

Description:

- if the constitutional amendments and feeral laws had stayed in place, civil rights advocates could have used federal courts to stop racial discrimination and violence, but the Court closed this route off.


A group of decisions begun in 1873 in which the Court began to undercut the power of the Fourteenth Amendment to protect African American rights.

1873: Slaughter-House
1876:U.S. v. Cruikshank (ex-confederates killed African American farmers, there was a democratic political coup. court said that voting rights were a state matter until the state itself violated those rights. They said that if former slaves were violated by individuals or private (klan-like) groups that the federal gov couldn't do anything. THey said the 14th amendment didn't protect citizens from armed vigilantes even if they seized political power.)
(both cases said that the 14th amendment offered only a few trivial federal protections to citizens)

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