PSC 1002
02/07/2025
CHAPTER 4: CIVIL RIGHTS
What are civil rights? What is the distinction between civil liberties and civil
rights?
Civil rights: affirmative protections by government or that government secures on behalf of its citizens
- Contrast to civil liberties, which are the protections from government power
- Civil rights require governments to act; civil liberties are well served when government does nothing
Thinking about the road to the Civil War, what role did the Missouri
Compromise play? Why would free states v. slave states matter for the events
that unfolded?
The Missouri Compromise – Missouri (a slave state) would be admitted into the union at the same time as
Maine (a free state) so as to not disrupt the balance between free and slave states
- Moreover, the South agreed to accept Missouri’s southern border as the northern boundary beyond
which slavery could not extend in the future
- This compromise worked for the next decade or so, but it began to unravel as territories applying for
statehood were not conveniently paired as slave and free states
o Slave states began looking for another alternative to their Senate veto to ensure continuation of
slavery; free states began seeing the containment strategy with less favor
- In 1850, the compromise buckled under the weight of southern and northern grievances
Compromise finally collapsed when California applied for admission as a free state; the South agreed on its
admission in return for passage of the Fugitive Slave Law
What were the ramifications of the Dred Scott case?
Scott v. Sandford (1857) – the Supreme Court concurred that the federal government could not prevent slavery
in the territories
- Through this decision, the effort to legislate mutually acceptable policy over the previous half century
was undone
- The majority argued that any federal law that interfered with the right of an individual to his property,
including human chattel, was unconstitutional
- The whole nation being open to slaveholding by judicial fiat galvanized the north; it led to President
Lincoln winning the 1860 elections, along with the Republican party gaining control of the House and
forming an antislavery majority in the Senate
The decisive 1860 victory and the secession of the slave states gave the national majority sufficient control over
government to enforce its preferences, a change from the previous century’s period of compromise and
frustrated national action
- Enabled them to eventually eradicate slavery
Jim Crow Laws were a series of laws that did what? What made it possible for
such laws to be passed?
Jim Crow laws: laws adopted in the South to disenfranchise Black citizens and physically separate African
Americans and whites
- Institutionalized segregation of African Americans and whites in their access to public services
To secure segregation the southern states had to prevent Black citizens from voting, and to do so, they
constructed a maze of electoral laws that systematically excluded African Americans from civil life
- The white primary, the poll tax, the literacy test and the grandfather clauses
PSC 1002
02/07/2025
Why is Plessy v. Ferguson such an infamous case? What did it lead to?
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court declared that the South’s Jim Crow laws and systematic segregation
was constitutional
- Government-enforced segregation of the races was constitutional as long as the facilities for African
Americans and whites were equal – the separate but equal doctrine
The separate but equal doctrine was established, which officially sanctioned segregation throughout the South
for the next half century
What does the Civil Rights Movement teach us about collective action?
Shifting strategy from litigation to mass demonstrations introduced collective action problems that had to be
solved for the civil rights movement to succeed
Black southerners did not have politicians to inspire/organize efforts to bring down Jin Crow through
confrontation
- However, they did have other Black professionals (particularly preachers) who participated in
planning/coordinating demonstrations
Another problem concerned the followers; would they agree to demonstrate?
- Many might have free rode due to the disincentives (engaging in illegal activities) and with a recognition
that their efforts weren’t make or break
Using the organizational effort of local ministers and their credibility, the movement enjoyed much broad-based
support
What did Brown v. Board of Education overturn? What is immediately
effective? In other words, did it change America overnight? Why or why not?
Through the Court’s unanimous ruling, Plessy, the principal legal prop of Jim Crow, crumbled
- Although a flurry of desegregation cases were filed in the decade after Brown, it did not end segregation,
as efforts to implement it encountered all of the problems associated with enforcing judicial rulings
Focus on the importance of institutions. The Civil Rights Movement didn’t just
include protests. Its organizers lobbied, litigated, and they worked with
politicians. What does this tell us about how to change the status quo?
Thinking about federalism and the role of the federal government, what steps
were taken to try and protect individual civil rights? What does this teach us
about coordination problems?
The federal bureaucracy has assumed a prominent role in implementing policies enacted during the civil rights
movement
The cause of civil rights is advanced only when a large national majority fully takes control of the federal
government and challenges tyranny in the states