Civil Rights Act Overturned and Professional Baseball Teams of 1883

Joseph P. Bradley

John Marshall Harlan

The Cortland News, Friday, October 19, 1883.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS’ BILL.

Important Decision by the United States Supreme Court.

The Act of 1875 Declared to be Unconstitutional.

   An important decision has just been rendered by the United States supreme court in the five civil rights cases which were submitted to it about a year ago.

   These cases were all based on the first and second sections of the civil rights act of 1875, and were respectively prosecutions for not admitting certain colored persons to equal accommodations and privileges in inns or hotels, in railroad cars and in theatres. The defense set up was the alleged unconstitutionality of the law. The first and second sections of the act, which were the parts directly in controversy, are as follows:

   Section 1. That all persons within the jurisdiction of the United Sates shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land and water, theatres and other places of public amusement, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude.

   The second section provides that any person who violates the first section shall be liable to forfeit [$50] for each offense, to be recovered in a civil action; and also of a penalty of from $500 to $1,000 fine, or imprisonment of from thirty days to a year, to be enforced in a criminal prosecution. Exclusive jurisdiction is given to the district and circuit courts in cases arising under the law.

   The rights and privileges claimed and denied to the colored persons in these cases were full and equal accommodations in hotels, in ladies' cars on railway trains and in the dress circles in theatres.

   The court, in a long and carefully prepared opinion by Justice Bradley, held:

   First—That Congress had no constitutional authority to pass the two sections under either the thirteenth or fourteenth amendment of the Constitution.

   Second--that the fourteenth amendment is prohibitory upon the States only, and that the legislation authorized to be adopted by Congress for enforcing that amendment is not direct legislation on the matters respecting which the States are prohibited from making or enforcing certain laws or doing certain acts, but is corrective legislation necessary or proper for counteracting and redressing the effect of such laws or acts; that in forbidding the States, for example, to deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, and giving Congress power to enforce the prohibition, it was not intended to give power to provide due process of law for the protection of life, liberty and property (which would embrace almost all subjects of legislation), but to provide modes of redress for counteracting the operation and effect of State laws obnoxious to the prohibition.

   Third—That the thirteenth amendment gave no power to Congress to pass the sections referred to, because it relates to slavery and involuntary servitude, which it abolishes, and gives Congress power to pass laws for its enforcement; that this power only extends to the subject matter of the amendment itself, namely, slavery and involuntary servitude and the necessary incidents and consequences of those conditions; that it has nothing to do with different races or colors, but only refers to slavery—the legal equality of different races and classes of citizens being provided for in the fourteenth amendment, which prohibits the States from doing anything to interfere with such equality; that it is no infringement of the thirteenth amendment to refuse to any person the equal accommodations and privileges of any inn or place of entertainment however it maybe violative of his legal rights; that it imposes on him no badge of slavery or involuntary servitude which imply some sort of subjection of one person to another and the incapacity incident thereto, such as inability to hold property, to make contracts, to be parties in court, etc., and that if the original civil rights act which abolished these incapacities might be supported by the thirteenth amendment, it does not therefore follow that the act of 1875 can be supported by it.

   Fourth—That this decision affects only the validity of the law in the States and not in the Territories or the District of Columbia, where the legislative power of Congress is unlimited, and it does not undertake to decide what Congress might or might not do under the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, the law not being drawn with any such view.

   Fifth—That, therefore, it is the opinion of the court that the first and second sections of the act of Congress of March 1, 1875, entitled "An act to protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights," are unconstitutional and void, and judgment should be rendered upon the indictments accordingly.

   At the conclusion of the reading of Justice Bradley's opinion, which occupied more than an hour, Justice Harlan said that under ordinary circumstances, and in an ordinary case, he should hesitate to set up his individual opinion in opposition to that of his eight colleagues, but in view of what he thought the people of this country wished to accomplish and what they believed they had accomplished by means of this legislation, he must express his dissent from the opinion. He had not had time since hearing that opinion to prepare a statement of the ground of his dissent, but he should prepare and file one as soon as possible, and in the meantime desired to put upon record this expression of his individual judgment.

Moses Fleetwood Walker (see important links below)

THE NATIONAL GAME.

   WALKER, of the Toledo club, is the only professional colored pitcher in the country.

   JAMES DEVLIN, who for several years was considered the best pitcher in the country, died recently at his home in Philadelphia.

   RICHARDSON, of the Buffalo club, has had an offer of $2,600 to play in Boston next season. Al Reach has offered $8,000 for his services if he will play in Philadelphia.

   ACCORDING to the batting average for the season the eight league clubs stand as follows: Buffalo, first; Chicago, second; Providence, third; Boston, fourth: Philadelphia, fifth; Detroit sixth; New York, seventh, and Cleveland eighth.

   THE net earnings of the American association clubs this year were: Athletics, $65,000, less $11,000 laid out for grounds; St. Louis, $40,000, less the cost of new grounds, which was about $35,000; Cincinnati, $35,000; Baltimore, $30,000; Metropolitans, $5,000; Columbus, $4,000, and Allegheny, $3,000. The Louisville club lost $1,000.

   IF all the men who have played one or more games in the Philadelphia team this season were to pass in review before Bob Ferguson, says the Detroit Free Press, he would fail to recognize some of them. They number twenty-seven. The Detroits have numbered sixteen; Buffalos, eighteen; Cleveland, seventeen; Boston, twelve; Chicago, eleven; New York, sixteen; Providence, fourteen.

   Hagan, now pitching for the Buffalos, is the only man who has gone from one league team to another during the season. Detroit has had seven pitchers—Weidman, Burns, Shaw, Mclntyre, Radbourne, Mansell and Wood.

   SPEAKING of the popular interest taken in baseball at Boston, a letter in the Springfield Republican says: "This has been a marvelously prosperous season, especially toward its end, and baseball stock here will be high next spring. The Bostons had an enormous crowd at their benefit at the South End and reaped a substantial profit from it. Stories are told of the members receiving all sorts of gifts from admiring backers. One gentleman gave, it is said, each player a watch and a suit of clothes, and one enthusiast presented each man with $500 cash in accordance with a promise made early in the season. The receipts for admissions to the grounds have been huge, larger than in any other city, and the grounds are to be enlarged. The champions are the pets of the town. They go to the theatre and the audience rises en masse and cheers them. Invitations are showered upon them from all quarters. This is not at all to be deprecated, for the "boys" won the pennant on their merits by sheer good playing, and it was a long and uphill struggle for them. Not a game was played here in September but was watched with keen interest by many of the elite, who filled the grand stand day after day."

References:

Civil Rights Cases: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Cases

Joseph P. Bradley: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Bradley

John M. Harlan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marshall_Harlan
Moses Fleetwood Walker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Fleetwood_Walker

Walker on trial at Syracuse for murder in 1891 (a dramatic read): http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/1994/02/in_syracuse_the_trials_of_flee.html