Plessy V. Ferguson

Today in class, there were two teams that fought for and against the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The Plessy v. Ferguson's case originated in 1892, and was the first case that pleaded the 14th amendment and the equal protection clause. The clause prohibits states from rejecting “equal protection of the laws” to any person. The separate car act was enacted in 1890 by the Louisiana state legislature which required “equal but separate” train accommodations for blacks and whites. 

Plessy sat in the "whites only" car in the Louisiana train, and was told to exit the car by whites and Plessy refused to do so. He was then arrested and convicted by a New Orleans court and later filed a petition against the judge; John H. Ferguson. In the trial Plessy’s lawyer argued that the separate car act violated the 13th and 14th amendment. Unfortunately, the majority of the court ruled in favor of Ferguson, and didn’t feel that it went against the amendments, but instead a stamp approval was created on the doctrine of “separate but equal”. 

In my opinion, the team that argued Ferguson had more legal terms which are more superior when arguing a case in court. They argued with law and the Plessy team had only argued with opinions. The Ferguson team had argued that he was an octoroon meaning he was only ⅛ a person, which I do not agree with, but it was a thing back in history. They also argued that there was a law that said during the 1830’s state legislature passed the first laws requiring railroad cars for blacks and whites. Although I don’t agree with the case, the Ferguson team just had more facts that supported their side in the court.