Dissent in Plessy V. Ferguson (1896)

question 83

Multiple Choice

Dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
John Marshall Harlan
. . . I deny that any legislative body or judicial tribunal may have regard to the race of citizens when the civil rights of those citizens are involved. . . .
Every one knows that the statute in question had its origin in the purpose, not so much to exclude white persons from railroad cars occupied by blacks, as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white persons. . . . The fundamental objection, therefore, to the statute is that it interferes with the personal freedom of citizens. . . .
The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And so it is, in prestige, in achievements, in education, in wealth, and in power. So, I doubt not, it will continue to be for all time, if it remains true to its great heritage and holds fast to the principles of constitutional liberty. But in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. . . . Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. . . . The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved
-Justice Harlan's dissent was a direct response to

• A) increasingly prominent racist ideas in the Gilded Age.
• B) social Darwinism, which justified the successes of those at the top.
• C) popular visions of "good," such as the formation of utopian societies.
• D) corruption in government and business.