Since its inception, the federal government sought to “secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.” The constitutional protections for slaveholders and the subsequent ban on the international enslaved trade are evidence of this impulse. A further example are the homesteading laws that targeted Whites alone. During the nineteenth century, cheap land and enslaved wealth brought economic security, at minimum, and immense wealth, at maximum, to millions of White Americans. Most were able to leverage this advantage and offer their children expanded educational and occupational opportunities.
In the twentieth century, education and homeownership took on increased importance as the USA became more industrial and urban. While Supreme Court rulings like Cumming v. Richmond County concluded that school districts need not provide secondary education to non-Whites, there was a massive expansion in secondary education among Whites, preparing them for skilled employment.
Amidst the housing crisis in the 1930s, the federal government offered loan guarantees to long-term, fixed-rate mortgages that rescued the housing market and encouraged homeownership. Federal agencies used residential maps that targeted this generosity to areas identified as “White only,” leaving other areas credit starved.
All of these policies functioned to secure the blessings of White Americans.
