Justice John Marshall Harlan Analysis

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Justice John Marshall Harlan is a Southerner who defended the rights of African American citizens during the Reconstruction. During the Civil Rights Case of the Reconstruction Era, Justice Harlan defended the fourteen and thirteen amendment and voiced his commitment to equality for African Americans. The amendment states, regarding the rights of colored individuals, that all people of the United States are allowed rights that no state can abridge; “All persons born or naturalized in the United States... are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall… deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person… the equal protection of the laws” (Staff). Regarding the thirteenth amendment, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude... shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (13th Amendment). Justice Harlan had been raised in Frankfort, Kentucky and observed the negative effects that white Americans had on African Americans. During his role of attorney general, Harlan saw the hatred that white office workers had for African Americans, and knew of the sixty-four white supremacist acts that occurred in Frankfort. Raised as a white supremacist and a child to a slaveholder, Justice Harlan did not let his …show more content…

Unfortunately, Harlan became paralyzed with fear, as the thought of being targeted, for supporting African Americans and all of the difficulties he will endure, washed over him. His dissent meant going against his father, other Supreme Court Justices, and the majority of the public; people who were, in general, against giving full rights to colored people. “Harlan's dissent in the Civil Rights Cases says, we the Court protected the rights of slave masters and upheld congressional laws protecting slave masters” (The Civil Rights

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