Based on narrow interpretations of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, the Supreme Court severely limited the authority of the federal government to protect the civil rights of African Americans.
Because state courts rarely prosecuted acts of violence against the freed slaves of the South, the Enforcement Act of 1870
The Supreme Court unanimously held that the indictments were invalid. In a complicated ruling, Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite
The decision in United States v. Cruikshank left protection for most African American rights with the southern states, where few people sympathized with their cause. The decision reflected the national mood, which had become tired of federal intervention in southern politics.
Fourteenth Amendment
Race and discrimination
Reconstruction
Slaughterhouse Cases
State action
States’ rights and state sovereignty