Indictment from United States v. Samuel Nichols
9/8/1876
Add to Favorites:
Add all page(s) of this document to activity:
Add only page 1 to activity:
Add only page 2 to activity:
Add only page 3 to activity:
Add only page 4 to activity:
Add only page 5 to activity:
Add only page 6 to activity:
In the District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Samuel Nichols was charged with “denial of civil rights on account of race or color” after Nichols refused to allow W.H.R. Agee to stay at the Nichols Inn in Jefferson City on May 22, 1876. After determining that United States v. Nichols implicated “difficult and important questions of law,” the district court passed the case to the circuit court, which then issued a certificate of division to the United States Supreme Court.
Five cases (Stanley, Ryan, Nichols, Robinson, and Singleton) were eventually consolidated into the Civil Rights Cases. The Court, with Justice Joseph P. Bradley writing for the majority, held that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional because it sought to regulate individual action, which was appropriately regulated by the state police power and not by the federal government’s authority under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Five cases (Stanley, Ryan, Nichols, Robinson, and Singleton) were eventually consolidated into the Civil Rights Cases. The Court, with Justice Joseph P. Bradley writing for the majority, held that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional because it sought to regulate individual action, which was appropriately regulated by the state police power and not by the federal government’s authority under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Transcript
United States of America} Id:Western District of Missouri}
In the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri at the September Term 1876
The grand jurors of the United States of America duly impannelled, sworn and charge to inquire in and for the Western District of Missouri, on their oath present that on the twenty second day of May in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy Six, at Jefferson City in Cole County in said Western District of Missouri, one Samuel Nichols, late of said District, was the keeper and proprietor of a public inn, for the accomodation of travellers and the general public, that is to say, a certain common inn call the Nichols House of the accomodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of which inn, all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States were then and there entitled to the full and equal enjoyment subject only to the conditions and limitations applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude: that one W.H.R. Agee was then and there a citizen of the United States of America, and of the State of Missouri, and a person of color, and one of the Negro race, within the jurisdiction of the United States and he said W.H.R. Agee, being then and there a traveller, was then and there an applicant to the said Samuel Nichols while he the said Samuel Nichols was the keeper and proprietor of said inn as aforesaid, for the accomodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of said inn as a guest therein: but he the said Samuel Nichols then and there did deny the said W.H.R. Agee admission as a guest in said inn, and the full and equal enjoyment by him the said W.H.R. Agee, as such guest, of the accomodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of said inn, and he the said Samuel Nichols then and there did refuse the said W.H.R. Agee the accomodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of said inn as a guest therein, said denial and refusal not then and there being for reasons applicable to citizens of every race and color, and regardless of any previous condition of servitude: buthe the said Samuel Nichols then and there did deny and refuse said W.H.R. Agee, as aforesaid for the sole reason that he the said W.H.R. Agee was a person of color and one of the Negro race, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the said United States.
James S. Botsford
United States Attorney
United States
vs.
Samuel Nichols
Indictment for denial of civil rights on account for race and color
A True Bill
Jacob E?
Foreman
Witnesses
S.R. Gurney
William T. Sullivan
W.H.R. Agee
Filed November 17, 1876
This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.
Full Citation: Indictment from United States v. Samuel Nichols; 9/8/1876; United States vs. Samuel Nichols; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/indictment-from-united-states-v-samuel-nichols, April 17, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.