The US Constitution, the Courts and Race

Since the foundation of the United States, and indeed going even further back to the first colonization of North America, race relations play a prominent role; undoubtedly, the relationship between Black and White Americans is a constant theme in American history. As the nation matured, legal pronouncements on the issue of race and its associated social conditions were commonplace, and indeed are still frequent in the twenty-first century. Far from being "above" social conditions, the Supreme Court and the Constitution reflected the social conditions in an evolving manner through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and beyond. This paper will take a closer look at the issue of race relations throughout American history, and conclude with a glimpse into the future of the topic.

How the Constitution Recognized the Relations between Whites and Blacks in the Late Eighteenth Century

In the traditional view, albeit an idealized one, the United States Constitution is viewed as a document that guarantees equal rights for all Americans, regardless of race and other factors. While this would be a convenient reality, and would be an excellent advantage for everyone equally, a closer look at the facts of the situation indicates something to the contrary.

By the late eighteenth century, the United States was approaching its 100th birthday, and with that age came some hard learned experiences that had given blacks many of the rights that were previously withheld from them. The best examples of this were the addressing of the slavery issue through the fighting of the Civil War, and in the midst of the war, Constitutional amendments that abolished slavery as a matter of law, and gave blacks the previously absent right to travel freely throughout the United States, to own property, and pursue their own interests (Waller, 1998). Gone were the days when such oppressive legal maneuvers such as Dred Scott, which all but made blacks a commodity like the cotton that they were forced to harvest in the burning sun of the south. Before this advance for blacks was to come to reality, however, there would be many obstacles to overcome and key legal issues to be addressed by the Supreme Court.

Changes in Race Relations Through Supreme Court Interpretations, in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

The early years of the nineteenth century saw a great deal of legal wrangling in regard to the issue of race relations, with the crown jewel of the race relations issue, so to speak, defined in regard to the equal granting of rights to all races. Early in the nineteenth century, Marbury v. Madison, a pivotal Supreme Court case, rule that any law passed that went contrary to the provisions of the Constitution could be voided by its very nature (Waller, 1998). Somehow, however, the essence of Marbury never came to full realization, for one reason or another.
While one would assume that, for example, that the Bill of Rights would be the last word on equal rights for everyone, regardless of race, the Bill of Rights was found to be less than absolute, as ruled upon by the Supreme Court.

Although the design of the Supreme Court is to rule on individual cases, and not to issue blanket edicts on the issues brought before it, these individual rulings often had the power of a blanket ruling anyhow. An excellent example of this is the ruling of the Supreme Court in 1833, Barron v. Baltimore, which upheld the Bill of Rights on a national level, which would basically mean equal rights for all races, except that the ruling also stated that by its nature, the Supreme Court did not have the authority to enforce the ruling in the individual states (Knopke, 1991). Therefore, states that chose not to grant equal rights to everyone, were not compelled to do so by any higher legal authority. By this measure, voting and property rights, as well as all of the freedoms that whites took for granted, could be withheld from other races at will, with no reason or logic.

The middle of the nineteenth century likewise saw other Supreme Court rulings which widened the disparity between the races. As was mentioned earlier in the research, the Dred Scott decision maintained that slaves could be pursued, even into those states which banned slavery on their own, for the purpose of being returned to their "owners"; moreover, Dred Scott held that blacks could not bear arms, which went contrary to the Bill of Rights and blatantly showed that rights applied to some races and not to others. In fact, Dred Scott ultimately was one of the points of contention that led to the Civil War.

Changes Written Into the Constitution and How They Were Interpreted in the Last Half of the Nineteenth Century

The blood spilled, and the changes to the United States during the Civil War led to Constitutional changes in the latter portion of the nineteenth century. Reinforcing what had been demonstrated by the fighting of the Civil War, which is, among other issues that slaver would no longer be tolerated without question or challenge, the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, held that all former slaves be given immediate American citizenship, and all of the rights to which they would be entitled as such (Waller, 1998). However, as with so many other legal decisions that tried to give all races equality in the United States, the 14th Amendment was able to be stretched a bit by those that would hold back racial minorities. For example, while law required equality for all races, including citizenship and the like, minorities who were economically disadvantaged could be held back from exercising rights such as the right to vote because of the imposition of poll taxes. In response to poll taxes, the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, which outlawed poll taxes in all states.

Overall, what the Constitutional changes, and the interpretations of them in the latter portion of the nineteenth century served to do was to make a loud statement that while laws could be passed to instill racial equality and fight discrimination, right up to and including the amendment of the Constitution, no law could change the attitudes of those who would deprive racial minorities of the full expression of their freedom and the benefits of the rights of an American citizen. Even with minorities taking responsibility to defend the United States in war, even to the point of standing up for the rights of the racial majority as well as themselves, there seemed to be a lack of recognition of minorities as equals, and the effort to oppress minorities was always alive and well.

With the twentieth century looming on the horizon, race relations in the United States would still be an unanswered question, or at least not answered in a way that would be equitable to all parties involved. As like so many other situations, majority ruled in the racial issues that seemed to be repeating themselves in the United States with alarming regularity. This in mind, the state of race relations as the twentieth century began is worthwhile to examine and discuss as a means of bringing the racial issue into a more modern context.

The State of Race Relations at the Turn of the Century

Race relations in America hit a new level of discourse and dispute as the twentieth century began; because of the massive numbers of immigrants coming from all corners of the earth, the US had a level of racial diversity that was unheard of in the past. While the racial issue prior to this time was mostly blacks versus whites, many other races now figured into the equation, and like the blacks before them, the also faced prejudice, oppression, and conflict. For all of the advances in technology, government, and economics, the differences in race continued to generate dispute throughout America. At times, the US seemed ready to implode because of the racial strife within it.

For blacks, things had not gotten any better either, due to the proliferation of racial hatreds in the south, the pursuit of power in the north, and the struggle of minorities to gain social and economic equality throughout the nation.

Conclusion- What Remains to be Done

In conclusion, it must be understood that there still remains a great deal to be done regarding the issue of race in America. While blacks have gained a great deal in their fight for equality, white supremacy groups and right wing extremists, among others, still pose a threat for the reaching of the full potential for blacks. What remains to be done on this front, and other fronts of racial discrimination, is for the interests of the small numbers of extremists to be countered by the larger issue of equality for all races. Then, and only then, can the issue of race have any sort of satisfactory resolution.

References

Knopke, H. J., Norrell, R. J., & Rogers, R. W. (Eds.). (1991). Opening Doors: Perspectives on Race Relations in Contemporary America. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.
Waller, J. (1998). Face to Face The Changing State of Racism across America. New York: Insight Books.