Courtesy of Library of Congress, Miller, Samuel Freeman, "U.S. Reports: Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873)," 1872 In March 1869, the Louisiana state legislature enacted a
law granting a monopoly to the Crescent City Livestock Landing and Slaughterhouse Company to slaughter animals in the New Orleans area. The goal was to eliminate the waste runoff that collected in the city from slaughterhouses upstream the Mississippi River. Although all slaughterhouses were banned from operating in the area, independent butchers could still slaughter animals on the company's grounds for a fee. A group of local butchers sued, arguing that the law violated Section 1 of the
Fourteenth Amendment, most notably the amendment's Privileges and Immunities Clause. With this case, the U.S. Supreme Court was tasked with interpreting the recently ratified 14th Amendment for the first time. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled against the butchers by rejecting what would eventually become the doctrine of incorporation of the Bill of Rights. Instead, the Court argued that the 14th Amendment textually distinguished between citizens of the United States and
citizens of the several states, which mattered because the Privileges and Immunities Clause that followed protected the privileges or immunities of national citizenship from interference by state action. However, the clause did not forbid the states from withholding the privileges and immunities that belonged to state citizenship. Through this narrow interpretation of the 14th Amendment, the Supreme Court essentially ruled that the federal government did not have broad power to enforce
civil rights, believing that to do so would infringe on a power that had always and needed to continue to belong to the individual states in a federal system of government. Full Transcript of U.S. Supreme Court: Slaughterhouse Cases Transcribed Excerpts from U.S. Supreme Court: Slaughterhouse Cases Miller, Samuel Freeman, "U.S. Reports: Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873)," 1872. Courtesy of Library of Congress Recommended textbook solutions U.S. History1st EditionJohn Lund, Paul S. Vickery, P. Scott Corbett, Todd Pfannestiel, Volker Janssen 567 solutions America's History for the AP Course8th EditionEric Hinderaker, James A. Henretta, Rebecca Edwards, Robert O. Self 470 solutions
America's History for the AP Course9th EditionEric Hinderaker, James A. Henretta, Rebecca Edwards, Robert O. Self 961 solutions
America's History for the AP Course8th EditionEric Hinderaker, James A. Henretta, Rebecca Edwards, Robert O. Self 470 solutions What did the Supreme Court decide in the Slaughterhouse Cases 1873?The Slaughterhouse Cases, resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1873, ruled that a citizen's "privileges and immunities," as protected by the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment against the states, were limited to those spelled out in the Constitution and did not include many rights given by the individual states.
What were the consequences of the Supreme Court's decisions in the Slaughterhouse Cases and the civil rights cases?Though the decision in the Slaughter-House Cases minimized the impact of the Privileges or Immunities Clause on state law, the Supreme Court would later incorporate the Bill of Rights to strike down state laws on the basis of other clauses.
What was the result of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Slaughterhouse Cases 1873 quizlet?What was the result of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Slaughterhouse cases (1873)? It limited the authority of federal courts in cases involving the civil rights of state citizens.
How was the Supreme Court decision in the Slaughterhouse Cases of 1873 a setback for African Americans?The Supreme Court's decision in the Slaughterhouse cases of 1873 was a setback for African Americans because the Court stated that most of Americans' basic civil rights were obtained through their citizenship in a state and the amendment did not protect those rights, meaning states could pass discriminatory laws ...
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