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State Response To The Civil Right Issue, 1883-1885, Robert Lionel Rowe

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to reexamine the assumption in American historiography that the United States Supreme Court's monumental decision in the Civil Rights Cases striking down the 1875 Civil Rights Act represented the end of the Nineteenth Century commitment to "equality under the law" and the civil rights issue. The evidence shows that while the decision had overwhelming support, much of this was support for the Court’s view that such legislation was not within the scope of Federal power.

Eleven states responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by rapidly enacting civil rights legislation. The research centered on gathering …