Defense of equality

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

3 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

07/28/2009

Category :

Law & contracts

Sub category :

Civil law

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Summary :

Introduction
Tocqueville's initial intention
Observation of the American institution of slavery
People who opposed the laws
The famous 'separate but equal' ruling
Plessy's suit against the state of Louisiana
Conclusion
Annotated bibliography

Abstract

From the very beginning of the formation of American democracy, it was designed to give equal power and equal rights to all American peoples: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The sentiment that all men are equal quickly faded when the issue of race came into question. Alexis de Tocqueville of France visited America to observe its prison system in 1831. Part of what he observed the interaction between the races of the country. His conclusions are premonitory of the conflicts that the races would have in the future. After the Civil war, the passing of Jim Crow laws coupled with the case Plessy v. Ferguson, furthered the racial divide between whites and blacks. But before the war that freed the slaves, before the laws and case that legalized racism, Tocqueville could see the ever growing rift that was contrary to what the signers of the Declaration of Independence meant: that all men are created equal.