The topic of discussion
for this Constitution Monday comes from Article IV, Section 2, and Clause
1: “The Citizens of each State shall be
entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” This means that the Rights of each citizen of
the United States of America – no matter where they live within the nation - are
the same in other states as in their home state.
“Numerous cases have arisen
under this clause wherein states have attempted to favor their own citizens to
the prejudice of the citizens of other states.
Nevertheless, the courts have held that it is not prejudicial to require
nonresidents to pay a fee for attending state schools or to pay a higher
hunting and fishing license fee, since these resources are maintained at
considerable expense by the taxpayers of the host state and thus nonresidents
are not put in a prejudicial position by being required to pay their fair share….
“[Alexander] Hamilton stated
that it was this provision of universal citizenship that `may be esteemed the
basis of the Union.’” (See W. Cleon
Skousen in The Making of America – The Substance
and Meaning of the Constitution, pp. 631-632.)
David F. Forte and Ronald
Rotunda of The Heritage Foundation stated:
“‘Privileges and immunities’ constituted a summary of ancient rights of
Englishmen that the colonists fought to maintain during the struggle against
the mother country. Founding documents …
championed these rights. In
Philadelphia, when the Committee of Detail proposed the Privileges and
Immunities Clause, the Framers approved it with no debate….
“Along the path to independence, `Privileges
and Immunities’ began to be set alongside ideas of natural rights as mutual
supports for the patriot cause. Yet the
notion of privileges and immunities still referred to a set of historically
obtained rights and not to general natural rights, though the two categories
were seen to be in utter harmony.” (See The Heritage Guide to the Constitution,
pp. 269-270.)
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