View Single Post
Old October 6, 2009, 08:07 AM   #50
Al Norris
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 29, 2000
Location: Rupert, Idaho
Posts: 9,660
Just to clarify, for those whom might be confused over just what "Privileges and Immunities" (Art. IV) and "Privileges or Immunities" (14th amend.) might mean.

First, the phrase is a term of art. It was well understood to mean those rights that are political (Privileges) and those rights that are natural (Immunities).

If you want to further understand this concept, you will need to read something of the works of Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679); John Locke (1632–1704); Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746); among others.

The philosophies of these men were highly influential among the colonists. So much so, that Thomas Jefferson used Hutcheson's terminology when framing the Declaration of Independence,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..."
and then modified Locke, by writing,
"... Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
These alienable and unalienable rights were first codified into the Articles of Confederation. They carried over into the Constitution and finally the 14th amendment.

Sorry Hugh. There was never a doubt about what the phrase meant. That fact stands, when the Court in Slaughter-House refused to implement the Constitutional directives.
Al Norris is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.02541 seconds with 8 queries