What You Need To Know About This Case
Summary
Argued: January 11, 1872
Reargued: February 3 thru 5, 1873
Decided: April 14, 1873
Holding
Before the Fourteenth Amendment, citizenship of the United States and citizenship of a State were considered one in the same. After the Fourteenth Amendment, however, the two citizenships were determined to be separate and distinct. In addition, privileges and immunities of citizenship of the United States were to be protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, not privileges and immunities of citizenship of a State. Privileges and immunities of citizenship of a state were to be found with the individual State.
And, it was also decided that there were now two citizens under the Constitution of United States: a citizen of the United States, under the Fourteenth Amendment and a citizen of the several States, under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1.
Citations
Official: 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36
Complete: 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36; 21 L.Ed. 394; 1872 U.S. Lexis 1139
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The Slaughterhouse Cases represent the United States Supreme Court’s first interpretation of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It is viewed as a pivotal case in early civil rights law, as the Supreme Court narrowly read the Fourteenth Amendment to protect only “privileges or immunities” conferred by virtue of citizenship of the United States but not citizenship of a State, a distinction which persists to this day.
In 1869, the Louisiana legislature passed a law that allowed the city of New Orleans to create a corporation (the Crescent City Livestock Landing and Slaughterhouse Company) to centralized all slaughterhouse operations in the city. Critics called it a legal monopoly based on political patronage designed to shut down independent butchers.
Twenty-five butchers and those involved in the unloading, feeding, slaughtering, and other activities associated with converting livestock into food filed various lawsuits to halt the creation of the new corporation and any contemplated changes to the slaughtering business in New Orleans.
Lower state courts found in favor of the new corporation in all cases. Five cases were appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The butchers based their claims on the due process, privileges or immunities and equal protection clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified by the several States only five years prior in 1868.
In a five to four decision written by Justice Samuel Freeman Miller, the Supreme court held to a narrow interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment and ruled that it did not restrict the police powers of a state. The Court held that the Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities clause affected only rights of United States citizenship and not State citizenship. Therefore, the butchers’ Fourteenth Amendment rights had not been violated.
The Court also held that because of the Fourteenth Amendment there were now two separate and distinct citizens under the Constitution of the United States; a citizen of the United States, under the Fourteenth Amendment and a citizen of the several States, under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1; or in other words, that there are two citizenship clauses in the Constitution of the United States, one in Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment and the other at Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1: [Footnote]
“We think this distinction and its explicit recognition in this Amendment (the 14th Amendment) of great weight in this argument, because the next paragraph of this same section (first section, second clause), which is the one mainly relied on by the plaintiffs in error, SPEAKS ONLY OF PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, AND DOES NOT SPEAK OF THOSE OF CITIZENS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. The argument, however, in favor of the plaintiffs, rests wholly on the assumption that the citizenship is the same and the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the clause are the same.” 83 U.S. 36 (1873), page 74.
And:
“In the Constitution of the United States, which superseded the Articles of Confederation, the corresponding provision is found in section two of the fourth article, in the following words: ‘The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens OF the several States.’ ” 83 U.S. 36 (1873), page 75.
The last was later reaffirmed in Cole v. Cunningham:
“The intention of section 2, Article IV (of the Constitution), was to confer on the CITIZENS OF THE SEVERAL STATES a general citizenship.” Cole v. Cunningham: 133 U.S. 107, 113-114 (1890).
The Slaughterhouse Cases represent the United States Supreme Court’s first interpretation of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In a five to four decision written by Justice Samuel Freeman Miller, the Supreme court held to a narrow interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment and ruled that it did not restrict the police powers of a state. The Court held that the Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities clause affected only rights of United States citizenship and not State citizenship. The Court also held that because of the Fourteenth Amendment there were now two separate and distinct citizens under the Constitution of the United States; a citizen of the United States, under the Fourteenth Amendment and a citizen of the several States, under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1.
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Footnote:
The Effects of the Fourteenth Amendment on the Constitution of the United States
http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15882
In addition;
Slaughterhouse Cases, Two Citizens
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/80677
Mistake in the Syllabus
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/81143
Slaughterhouse Cases, Up Close
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/81262
Two citizens under the Constitution
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/81367
Privileges and Immunities of a Citizen of the several States
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/81495
A Look At Corfield (On Citizenship)
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/93081
Resources:
Justice Samuel Freeman Miller
http://books.google.com/books id=C7sTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=Aw8aAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=3T1Dgk0OymUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://law.jrank.org/pages/8576/Miller-Samuel-Freeman.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404704468.html
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Samuel_Freeman_Miller
Slaughterhouse Cases:
http://books.google.com/books?id=w1lLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA226
http://books.google.com/books?id=Qpo_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA76
http://books.google.com/books?id=QKsaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA257
http://www.answers.com/topic/slaughterhouse-cases
http://law.jrank.org/pages/13650/Slaughterhouse-Cases.html
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/labsla.html
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