The Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibited discrimination against African Americans in the use of public accommodations, such as ho
tels, theaters, and train cars. Congress based the act on the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the law. In The Civil Rights Cases, in 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law. Why, according to the Court, was the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional?
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was a federal law proposed by Republican Senator Charles Sumner together with Republican Congressman Benjamin Franklin Butler. It was passed by Congress on March 1, 1875 and signed by President Ulysses S. Grant.
The content was equal access to all facilities in public life (hotels, trains, ferries, theaters, etc.) regardless of race, skin color or previous slave status. The Supreme Court (special vote with a different decision by John Marshall Harlan) declared the law unconstitutional in 1883, stating that Congress had no powers to regulate individual behavior. The 14th Amendment to the constitution banned the circumvention of civil rights only by the state, but not by individuals.
