Plessy vs Ferguson Skill Review

Open Ended

In U.S. Courts, an individual is “innocent until proven guilty.” How can someone be “proven guilty”?

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Rhetorical Choices, Strategies and Appeals Review

Argument and Reasoning

Skill Review

Definitions to Know

​Argument expresses an opinion about a debatable topic and consists of a claim supported by reasons and evidence.

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Claim, also called the central idea, is a statement that conveys the writer’s or speaker’s position.

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Reasons are explanations or justifications for the claim

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Evidence refers to facts, examples, and expert opinions that are used to support the reasons.

A strong argument avoids logical fallacies— errors in reasoning in the form of misleading or irrelevant information.

It doesn't include...

The thinking process that a writer or speaker applies to an argument. A strong argument demonstrates logical thinking, or reasoning

Reasoning

What else.....?

​Types of Reasoning

There are three types of reasoning. Deductive reasoning begins with general statements accepted to be true (the premises) and ends up with a specific factual statement deduced from the premises.

Inductive and abductive reasoning both use specific observations to arrive at general conclusions, but abductive reasoning uses incomplete information and knowledge of patterns to offer the simplest, most likely explanation.

Whereas mathematicians often use deductive reasoning and detectives abductive reasoning, most tasks and texts in the humanities involve inductive reasoning, in which reasons based on specific evidence and observations are used to support more general claims or conclusions.

Multiple Select

Are the reasons and evidence presented for court decisions always right or just?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

How do we determine if reasons and evidence are strong enough to “prove” someone is guilty?

Plessy vs. Ferguson

​In the 1896 case Supreme Court Case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the court heard the case of Homer Plessy, a Louisiana man with 1/8 African blood who challenged the law when he sat in a whites-only railroad car.

Let's look at a model with paragraph 4. ​

Model: Paragraph 4

​In her annotation, the reader notes that Brown is of the opinion that Plessy’s actions are unconstitutional. Here, the reader notes that the justice cites the 13th and 14th amendments in the opening of his majority opinion to support the court’s ruling of allowing “separate, but equal” facilities. The student decides that Brown’s position follows a line of reasoning, but in evaluating that reasoning, concludes that it is distorted.

​Model: Paragraph

​The thirteenth amendment does not permit the withholding or the deprivation of any right necessarily inhering in freedom. It not only struck down the institution of slavery as previously existing in the United States, but it prevents the imposition of any burdens or disabilities that constitute badges of slavery or servitude. It decreed universal civil freedom in this country. This court has so adjudged. But, that amendment having been found inadequate to the protection of the rights of those who had been in slavery, it was followed by the fourteenth amendment, which added greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship, and to the security of personal liberty, by declaring that ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside,’ and that ‘no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.’ These two amendments, if enforced according to their true intent and meaning, will protect all the civil rights that pertain to freedom and citizenship. ​

The reader notes Harlan’s use of deductive reasoning to establish that the 13th and 14th amendment, if enforced in keeping with their spirit, will allow people equal access to civil rights. In comparing Brown’s use of abductive reasoning with Harlan’s deductive reasoning, the reader finds Harlan’s use of reasoning is more effective.

Your Turn: .

Reread paragraphs 9–10 of the text to determine the answers to the follow-up questions.

Multiple Choice

What is the best example of deductive reasoning in the paragraphs 9-10?

• “It was, consequently, adjudged that a state law that excluded citizens of the colored race from juries, because of their race, however well qualified in other respects to discharge the duties of jurymen, was repugnant to the fourteenth amendment.”

• “They declared, in legal effect, this court has further said, ‘that the law in the states shall be the same for the black as for the white; that all persons, whether colored or white, shall stand equal before the laws of the states; and in regard to the colored race…”

• The decisions referred to show the scope of the recent amendments of the constitution.

• They also show that it is not within the power of a state to prohibit colored citizens, because of their race, from participating as jurors in the administration of justice.

Review: What is the best example of deductive reasoning in the paragraphs above?

“It was, consequently, adjudged that a state law that excluded citizens of the colored race from juries, because of their race, however well qualified in other respects to discharge the duties of jurymen, was repugnant to the fourteenth amendment.”

Correct. Harlan draws on preceding reasoning or precedent to judge a certain matter, which the word “consequently” signals.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements best represents Justice Harlan’s argument?

• Justice Harlan is in favor of racial segregation, in deference to what he calls “states’ rights.”

• Justice Harlan is in favor of racial integration because he interprets the 13th and 14th amendments to render segregation according to race unconstitutional.

• Justice Harlan is ambivalent about whether the constitution allows racial segregation

• Justice Harlan is in favor racial segregation and argues it will best protect the rights of different groups of people .

Review

​Which of the following statements best represents Justice Harlan’s argument?

​Justice Harlan is in favor of racial integration because he interprets the 13th and 14th amendments to render segregation according to race unconstitutional.Correct. This statement best represents Justice Harlan’s reasoning that the constitution forbids racial segregation.

Multiple Choice

Brown’s majority opinion states, “We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority.” Which of the following quotes from Harlan’s dissenting opinion best responds to this argument?

• “These notable additions to the fundamental law were welcomed by the friends of liberty throughout the world.”

• “They had, as this court has said, a common purpose, namely, to secure ‘to a race recently emancipated, a race that through many generations have been held in slavery, all the civil rights that the superior race enjoy.’”

• “We also said: ‘The words of the amendment, it is true, are prohibitory, but they contain a necessary implication of a positive immunity or right, most valuable to the colored race,—the right to exemption from unfriendly legislation against them distinctively as colored; exemption from legal discriminations, implying inferiority in civil society, lessening the security of their enjoyment of the rights which others enjoy; and discriminations which are steps towards reducing them to the condition of a subject race.’”

• It was, consequently, adjudged that a state law that excluded citizens of the colored race from juries, because of their race, however well qualified in other respects to discharge the duties of jurymen, was repugnant to the fourteenth amendment.

​Review- Brown’s majority opinion states, “We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority.” Which of the following quotes from Harlan’s dissenting opinion best responds to this argument?

C- “We also said: ‘The words of the amendment, it is true, are prohibitory, but they contain a necessary implication of a positive immunity or right, most valuable to the colored race,—the right to exemption from unfriendly legislation against them distinctively as colored; exemption from legal discriminations, implying inferiority in civil society, lessening the security of their enjoyment of the rights which others enjoy; and discriminations which are steps towards reducing them to the condition of a subject race.’”Correct. Harlan cites prior decisions of the court to make a connection between distinctions which put African-American people in a lesser position in society.

Rhetorical Appeals Review

Plessy v Ferguson

Definitions to know

RHETORIC is the art of effective communication or persuasion.

Rhetorical appeals are the methods that a speaker uses to persuade an audience and include the following:

• Logos, an appeal to logic and reason

• Pathos, an appeal to emotion

• Ethos, an appeal to ethics and credibility

By contrast, rhetorical devices are techniques that use language to engage the audience and make the argument more vivid and concrete. Rhetorical devices often emphasize the ideas conveyed through rhetorical appeals.

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Model: Paragraph 5

​We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.

Note: Justice Brown appeals to logos. He states evidence and then makes a deductive, or logical, claim based on that evidence. The key words indicating logos to me are “if this be so…” I’m not sure about the reasoning here, though.

The reader identifies that while Justice Brown successfully uses logos to support his argument, the reader feels uncertain about the validity of the reasoning. ​

​Model: Paragraph 11

​He continues reading to compare the rhetorical choices made in Justice Harlan’s dissenting opinion.

If a white man and a black man choose to occupy the same public conveyance on a public highway, it is their right to do so; and no government, proceeding alone on grounds of race, can prevent it without infringing the personal liberty of each. ​

Note: Justice Harlan appeals powerfully to peoples’ emotions in stating directly how people have the right to live as they’d like, in accordance with the law and constitutional precedent. It feels like it speaks to the humanity of those directly impacted by the ruling.​

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Here, the reader notices that the speaker appeals to pathos. He notes the difference in rhetorical appeal between logos and pathos and finds that whereas logos makes the reader see the sense in a writer’s point of view, pathos emotionally impresses itself on the reader. The reader describes Justice Harlan’s appeal as “powerful,” implying that while both justices effectively use appeals, Justice Harlan’s has a stronger impact on the reader.

Your Turn: Reread paragraphs 3–4 of the text. Then answer the multiple-choice questions that follow.

Multiple Choice

Which rhetorical appeals is Justice Brown using when writing, “By the fourteenth amendment, all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are made citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside…”?

• logos, since he’s making a rational claim.

• ethos by appealing to the authority of the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution

• pathos to appeal to emotion

• kairos to appeal to the memory of a prior time.

Review- Which rhetorical appeals is Justice Brown using when writing, “By the fourteenth amendment, all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are made citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside…”?

B- Brown is using ethos by appealing to the authority of the 14th amendment of the United States ConstitutionCorrect. Brown is using ethos to appeal to the authority of the United States Constitution.

Multiple Choice

Evaluate the effectiveness of logos in paragraph 4.

• Brown uses logos as a rhetorical appeal, but his reasoning is flawed.

• Brown uses logos as a rhetorical appeal to effectively support his claim.

• Brown uses both kairos and logos as appeals to support his claim.

• All of the above

Review- Evaluate the effectiveness of logos in paragraph 4.

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A- Brown uses logos as a rhetorical appeal, but his reasoning is flawed.Correct. Brown does use logical reasoning to support his claim, but the reasoning is flawed.​

Open Ended

Exit Ticket: List ONE thing you learned today and ONE thing you are still confused about regarding appeals or rhetoric.