This is something that almost happened in real life. According to Michael McConnell's research, the US Congress voted with almost two-thirds majorities in both houses to desegregate US schools nationwide in the summer of 1874 as a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, but ultimately failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority, which was required back then to overcome the filibuster, including in the US House of Representatives, which still had its own filibuster back then:
Thus, school desegregation ended up NOT being a part of the final version of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. However, what if the Republicans in the US Congress in the summer of 1874 would have gotten the necessary two-thirds Congressional support for school desegregation in both houses of the US Congress, thus allowing school desegregation to end up in the final version of the 1875 Civil Rights Act?
How would things have subsequently unfolded in this TL? Could this be enough to give Tilden the win in 1876, for instance? I mean outrage over school desegregation. Also, I would presume that school desegregation would be challenged in court, and what would help these challenges would be the fact that school desegregation was mentioned nowhere in the debates over either the 1866 Civil Rights Act or the 14th Amendment (which was said by some/many of its supporters to have a largely similar scope to the 1866 Civil Rights Act). It also didn't help that in 1883, the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws in the Pace v. Alabama case.
So, Yeah, anyway, does school desegregation eventually get struck down by the US Supreme Court in this TL? And what happens both beforehand and afterwards?
@History Learner @Skallagrim @stevep Thoughts on this?
Thus, school desegregation ended up NOT being a part of the final version of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. However, what if the Republicans in the US Congress in the summer of 1874 would have gotten the necessary two-thirds Congressional support for school desegregation in both houses of the US Congress, thus allowing school desegregation to end up in the final version of the 1875 Civil Rights Act?
How would things have subsequently unfolded in this TL? Could this be enough to give Tilden the win in 1876, for instance? I mean outrage over school desegregation. Also, I would presume that school desegregation would be challenged in court, and what would help these challenges would be the fact that school desegregation was mentioned nowhere in the debates over either the 1866 Civil Rights Act or the 14th Amendment (which was said by some/many of its supporters to have a largely similar scope to the 1866 Civil Rights Act). It also didn't help that in 1883, the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws in the Pace v. Alabama case.
So, Yeah, anyway, does school desegregation eventually get struck down by the US Supreme Court in this TL? And what happens both beforehand and afterwards?
@History Learner @Skallagrim @stevep Thoughts on this?