<P> Four of the original thirteen states never passed any laws barring interracial marriage, and the other states were divided on the issue in the Reconstruction era . In 1872, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the state's ban on mixed - race marriage violated the "cardinal principle" of the 1866 Civil Rights Act and of the Equal Protection Clause . Almost a hundred years would pass before the U.S. Supreme Court followed that Alabama case (Burns v. State) in the case of Loving v. Virginia . In Burns, the Alabama Supreme Court said: </P> <P> Marriage is a civil contract, and in that character alone is dealt with by the municipal law . The same right to make a contract as is enjoyed by white citizens, means the right to make any contract which a white citizen may make . The law intended to destroy the distinctions of race and color in respect to the rights secured by it . </P> <P> As for public schooling, no states during this era of Reconstruction actually required separate schools for blacks . However, some states (e.g. New York) gave local districts discretion to set up schools that were deemed separate but equal . In contrast, Iowa and Massachusetts flatly prohibited segregated schools ever since the 1850s . </P> <P> Likewise, some states were more favorable to women's legal status than others; New York, for example, had been giving women full property, parental, and widow's rights since 1860, but not the right to vote . No state or territory allowed women's suffrage when the Equal Protection Clause took effect in 1868 . In contrast, African American men had full voting rights in five states, at that time . </P>

The concept of equal protection of the law