Civil Rights Cases

( 1883 ) Commentary by R. Owen Williams, Yale University, and Lisa Paddock, Independent Scholar, Cape May County, New Jersey

Questions for Further Study

1. In what ways did the Court’s decision in the Civil Rights Cases undermine the protections the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution afforded African Americans?
2. Using this document alongside the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifteenth Amendment, the Ku Klux Klan Act, and United States v. Cruikshank, prepare a time line of fifteen key events from 1865 to 1883 that affected African Americans. Be prepared to defend your choices.
3. What was the basis of the Court’s reasoning in ruling as it did in the Civil Rights Cases?
4. What factors in the social, economic, or political environment might have led the Supreme Court to rule as it did in the Civil Rights Cases?

Joseph P. Bradley (Library of Congress)

View Full Size