4.3 QuickWrite- The Removal of the 14th Amendment

The compromise between the Federalists and Anti-Federalist in ratifying the Constitution added a Bill of Rights to the Constitution in order to protect the rights of the citizens against infringement by the government.  The Bill of Rights has twice been removed from enforcement in the states, only to be re-stablished by Amendment and Supreme Court interpretation.  The post Civil War 14th Amendment reversed Barron v. Baltimore and was ratified to protect the rights of the citizens in the states.  In the Slaughter House Cases (1872), the Supreme Court refused to enforce the 14th Amendment as written and once again removed it from the states. 

• Constitution of the United States - Bill of Rights is applied to the states
• Barron v. Baltimore (1833) Bill of Rights is removed from the states
• 14th Amendment-Bill of Rights is applied to the states
• Slaughter House Cases (1872)-Bill of Rights is removed from the states

Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. Crescent City Livestock Landing and Slaughter-House Company

Facts. In 1869, Louisiana passed a law giving a monopoly over the New Orleans slaughterhouse business to the Crescent City Livestock Landing and Slaughterhouse Company. The Butchers’ Benevolent Association of New Orleans argued that the law violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution because it denied them due process, denied them equal protection and abridged their privileges and immunities.

Issue. Do the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution make the Bill of Rights applicable to the states?

Held. No. The Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) observed that the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution protects the privileges and immunities of national, not state, citizenship, and neither the Equal Protection, Due Process, or Privilege and Immunities Clauses of that Amendment may be used to interfere with state control of the privileges and immunities of state citizenship. The underlying purpose of the three post-Civil War amendments to the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution was to eliminate the remnants of African Slavery, not to effect fundamental changes in the relation of government. The Amendments were promulgated to ensure that former salves were protected from laws passed by the federal government

After the passage of the 14th Amendment, the Supreme Court in Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. Crescent City Livestock Landing and Slaughter-House Company (1872) refused to implement the Amendment and protect the rights of the citizens.  Why?

Your response is NOT a recap of the facts of the case, but rather an analysis of the Supreme Courts ruling and the history of the time.

This is not an analytical paper, but a summary analysis of your knowledge of the concepts in this chapter.   The response should be about 300 words (one page). Students posting less than a 300 word response will get reduced or no credit.