130 



CIVIL RIGHTS. 



government that we recognize the equality of 

 all men before the law, and hold that it is the 

 duty of Government in its dealings with the 

 people to mete out equal and exact justice to 

 all, of whatever nativity, race, color, or per- 

 suasion, religious or political ; and it being the 

 appropriate object of legislation to enact great 

 fundamental principles into law, therefore be 

 it enacted," etc. The first sections of the act 

 are as follows : 



SECTION 1. That all persons within the jurisdiction 

 of the United States shall be entitled to the full and 

 equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, 

 facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances 

 on land or water, theatres, and other places of public 

 amusement ; subject only to the conditions and limi- 

 tations established by law, and applicable alike to citi- 

 zens of every race and color, regardless of any previous 

 condition of servitude. 



SEC. 2. That any person who shall violate the fore- 

 going section by denying to any citizen, except for 

 reasons by law applicable to citizens of every race 

 and color, and regardless of any previous condition 

 of servitude, the full enjoyment of any of the accom- 

 modations, advantages, facilities, or privileges in said 

 section enumerated, or by aiding or inciting such de- 

 nial, shall for every such offense forfeit and pay the 

 sum of five hundred dollars to the person aggrieved 

 thereby, to be recovered in an action of deot, with 

 full costs; and shall also, for every such offense, be 

 deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon convic- 

 tion thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred 

 nor more than one thousand dollars, or shall be im- 

 prisoned not less than thirty days nor more than one 

 year: 



Provided, That all persons may elect to sue for the 

 penalty aforesaid, or to proceed under their rights at 

 common law and by State statutes ; and having so 

 elected to proceed in the one mode or the other, their 

 right to proceed in the other .jurisdiction shall be 

 barred. But this provision shall not apply to crimi- 

 nal proceedings, either under this act or the criminal 

 law of any State : 



And provided further, That a judgment for the pen- 

 alty in favor of the party aggrieved, or a judgment 

 upon an indictment, shall be a bar to either prosecu- 

 tion respectively. 



These sections were held unconstitutional so 

 far as they apply to the States. The Territo- 

 ries and the District of Columbia are subject 

 to the complete legislative control of Congress. 

 Whether the act of 1875 is valid as applied to 

 cases arising in the Territories and the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, is a question which the Court 

 said was not before it, and which therefore it 

 refused to decide. There is room for question 

 whether the act of 1875 being unconstitutional 

 in part that is, as to the States will stand as 

 constitutional in part that is, as to the Terri- 

 tories and the District of Columbia. But there 

 is no doubt of the constitutional power of Con- 

 gress to enact a civil-rights law applicable alone 

 to the Territories and the District of Columbia. 

 The Court further remarked that whether Con- 

 gress in the exercise of its power to regulate 

 commerce among the States might or might 

 not enact a law governing civil rights in pub- 

 lic conveyances by land and water passing 

 from one State to another, was also a question 

 not before it, and it is one on which the Court 

 expressed ao opinion. It is believed, however, 

 that Congress has such power. 



The third section of the act of 1875 relate! 

 to procedure in cases arising under sections 1 

 and 2. It falls with those sections. Sectioi 

 4 is as follows : 



That no citizen possessing all other qualificationi 

 which are or may be prescribed by law shall be die 

 qualified for service as grand or petit juror in anj 

 court of the United States, or of any State, on account 

 of race ? color, or previous condition of servitude ; anc 

 any officer or other person charged with any duty ir 

 the selection or summoning of jurors who shall ex- 

 clude or fail to summon any citizen for the cause 

 aforesaid shall, on conviction thereof, be deemec 

 guilty of a misdemeanor, and be fined not more thar 

 five thousand dollars. 



This section is held constitutional by tb 

 Supreme Court on grounds which will be ex- 

 plained farther on. 



The constitutionality of the first two sec- 

 tions was tested in five cases brought from the 

 Federal circuit courts in different parts of the 

 country. In two of these cases the accommo- 

 dations of a hotel had been denied to negroes 

 in Kansas and Missouri on account of theii 

 color ; in two, admission to seats in the dress- 

 circle of a San Francisco theatre and to seats 

 in a New York theatre had been refused to col- 

 ored persons; and one was a suit brought in 

 Tennessee against the Memphis and Charleston 

 Railway Company for not permitting a colored 

 woman to ride in a car set apart for white 

 persons. As all of these cases involved the 

 same constitutional question, these were con- 

 sidered together in one opinion by the United 

 States Supreme Court. 



It is conceded that before the adoption of 

 the thirteenth amendment to the Federal Con- 

 stitution Congress had no power to pass a civil- 

 rights law such as that of 1875. If it exists at 

 all, the authority must be derived from the 

 thirteenth amendment or the first or the last 

 section of the fourteenth amendment. This is 

 the thirteenth amendment : 



SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servi- 

 tude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the 

 party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist 

 within the United States, or in anyplace subject to 

 their jurisdiction. 



SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this 

 article by appropriate legislation. 



The first and last sections of the fourteenth 

 amendment are : 



SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the 

 United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 

 are citizens of the United States and of the State 

 wherein they reside. No State shall make or en- 

 force any law which shall abridge the privileges or 

 immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall 

 any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop- 

 erty, without due process of law ; nor deny to any per- 

 son within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the 

 laws. 



SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, 

 by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this ar- 

 ticle. 



Considering these two amendments in their 

 inverse order, the Court holds that the four- 

 teenth prohibits State but not individual action 

 against the civil rights of colored citizens, and 

 that it empowers Congress to protect these 



