Cruikshank case
Definition
The Cruikshank case, officially known as United States v. Cruikshank (1876), was a Supreme Court case that ruled the federal government could not punish individuals for civil rights violations; only states had that power.
Analogy
Think of the federal government and state governments as parents with shared custody. In this scenario, the Supreme Court decided that only one parent (the state) has the authority to discipline their child (punish individuals for civil rights violations), while the other parent (federal government) does not have this right.
Related terms
United States v. Cruikshank: This is another name for the Cruikshank case. It was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which it held that certain constitutional protections of liberty and equal laws were enforceable against the states, not just against federal government.
Colfax Massacre of 1873: This was a racial massacre that occurred during Reconstruction in Colfax, Louisiana where approximately 150 African Americans were murdered by white Southerners. The event led to United States v. Cruikshank when some perpetrators were charged with violating Enforcement Acts.
Enforcement Acts: These were three bills passed by Congress between 1870-71 designed to protect African-Americans' Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment rights from infringement by local governments and private individuals, particularly in Southern states.
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