POLSC232: American Government

Although the era of dual federalism continued, this period was marked by erratic but increasing presence of the national government into areas that had previously been the purview of the states. The Sherman Anti-trust Act, the Interstate Commerce Commission Act, as well as the Twelfth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were significant events that pushed federal authority into areas such as the power to regulate business and the economy, as well as civil rights. In the midst of the industrial revolution, in an effort to control the monopolistic tendencies of business, Congress passed legislation that attempted to control commerce. Congress' authority to control commerce was at the center of several legal disputes. In a series of court cases, the power of the national government (Congress) to regulate commerce was upheld. Two of the more notable laws are the Interstate Commerce Commission Act of 1887 and the Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890. Court cases included Munn v. Illinois and Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Rail Road v. Illinois rendered in 1886, in which the Court held that the state could not regulate rail rates if, as a consequence, it affected a portion of the rate charged in transportation of goods across state lines. In the area of civil rights, the Court was far more restrictive in its interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection, due process and privileges and immunities clauses. In a series of cases, including Plessy v. Ferguson and Bradwell v. Illinois, the Court rulings upheld state laws restricting the freedoms and constitutional protections of certain gender or racial classes (women and minorities).

1868 – Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution.

The Fourteenth Amendment's due process and equal protection clauses strengthened federal judicial powers. The Amendment, originally drafted to protect the newly freed slaves from arbitrary and capricious state actions, was used to constrain the unfair practices of businesses. According to some scholars, the Amendment, which granted Congress the power to enforce its substantive provisions, laid the foundation for future federal expansion.

1873 – Doctrine of States' Rights Revived.

Slaughterhouse Cases and Bradwell v. Illinois. The Supreme Court played a pivotal role in two civil rights cases that tested the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court, in its rulings in the Slaughterhouse Cases and Bradwell v. Illinois, noted that state and national citizenship were separate and distinct. In the Slaughterhouse Cases the Supreme Court upheld the state of Louisiana's right to confer upon one company the right to butcher cattle in the city of New Orleans, thus creating a monopoly in the operation of slaughterhouses. In Bradwell v. Illinois the Supreme Court held that a state could bar women from the practice of law. The Court's rulings in these and other cases revived the doctrine of states rights.

1887 – Interstate Commerce Commission Act.

The Act further strengthened Congress' role in the regulation of commerce among states.

1890 – Sherman Anti-trust Act.

The Act allowed Congress to control the formation of business monopolies and signaled a larger role for the national government in the economy.

1896 – Civil Rights, States' Rights and the Separate but Equal Doctrine.

In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court established the doctrine of separate but equal, upholding a Louisiana law that mandated racially segregated accommodation on trains, ruling that so long as the segregated facilities were equal they were not a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. The doctrine was overturned in 1954 in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In Williams v. Mississippi the Supreme Court validated the use of state literacy tests. The Court's ruling allowed a state to determine standards under which persons would gain the right to vote. The application of literacy tests had a discriminatory impact on blacks.