|
Fourteenth
Amendment v. Tenth Amendment: Federalism
The
arguments presented to the Supreme Court of the United States
in Plessy v. Ferguson involve two competing amendments to
the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment says states may
not deny people equal protection of the law and the Tenth
Amendment reserves broad, undefined powers (often referred
to as police powers) for the states.
Fourteenth
Amendment
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 enforce 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 property, without due process of law; nor
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
|
Tenth
Amendment
The
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to
the states respectively, or to the people.
|
Plessy
argued that by restricting him to a separate train car,
the State of Louisiana violated his Fourteenth Amendment
right. However, the State of Louisiana countered that it
had the power under the Tenth Amendment to create laws that
preserve order and public peace.
Explain the two positions.
Read
the Supreme Court's opinion.
|
