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Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. From 1833 to 1843, he resided in Illinois and in an area of the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After returning to Missouri, Scott sued claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man. The court ruled that Scott was property, rather than a person, saying that he could not sue in court, and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery everywhere in the United States. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was passed with 3 key clauses. The Equal Protection Clause- The government has to apply equal laws on everyone. The Due Process/Incorporation Clause- “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The Citizenship Clause- Everyone born or naturalized in the U.S are citizens. -
15th Amendment
People cannot be denied the right to vote because of their race -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The state of Louisiana enacted a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. Plessy took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the separation of Blacks and Whites into equal railway cars was allowed by the 14th Amendment because they were "separate, but equal." -
19th Amendment
People could not be denied the right to vote because of their gender. -
The Scottsboro Boys
9 Black men riding on a train to Alabama looking for jobs were accused of raping 2 white women. In the first trial, they were not given a good lawyer, and got to be tried again because of lack of due process rights. After the second trial, they were able to be tried again because the jury was not impartial. Eventually, all of them were pardoned, released, or found not guilty. -
George Stiney Case
A 14 year old boy named George Stiney was accused of killing two young girls. The police said that he told them that he knew where the weapon was, and thus convicted guilty. Later it was found that he was not given the Due Process rights he deserved, and he should have won the case.