Civil Rights Act of 1875
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The Civil Rights Act of 1875 (18 Stat. 335) was a United States federal law proposed by Republican Senator Charles Sumner and Republican Congressman Benjamin F. Butler in 1870, and was enacted on March 1, 1875. It guaranteed that everyone, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was entitled to the same treatment in "public accommodations" (i.e. inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement). The United States Supreme Court deemed the act unconstitutional in 1883, on the basis that Congress had no power to regulate the conduct of individuals (see Civil Rights Cases). Arguably, had the act been upheld, the question of segregation presented in Plessy v. Ferguson might have been moot.
