Episode 653 (4-17-23): The 14th Amendment and Water-related Civil Rights Claims - Part 2: A Water Context for the Amendment’s First Supreme Court Interpretation (Episode Six of the Series, “Exploring Water in U.S. Civil Rights History”)

CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (5:32).

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Image
Extra Information
Sources

Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).

Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 4-14-23.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the weeks of April 17 and April 24, 2023.  This episode, the sixth in a series on water
in U.S. civil rights history, continues our exploration of water connections to
the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

MUSIC – ~23 sec – instrumental.

That’s part of “Mississippi Farewell,” by Dieter van der
Westen.  It opens an episode on how
Mississippi River water and public health were the context for the first U.S.
Supreme Court ruling on the meaning and extent of the 14th Amendment.  One of three constitutional amendments passed
and ratified soon after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment aimed to guarantee
citizenship rights and legal protections, especially for newly freed Black
people.  In 1873, the Supreme Court
issued a ruling in three consolidated cases about wastes from livestock
processing facilities in Louisiana; this ruling had decades-long implications
for key parts of the 14th Amendment and for civil rights.  Have a listen to the music for about 25 more
seconds, and see if you know the name of these consolidated Supreme Court
cases.

MUSIC – ~27 sec – instrumental.

If you guessed The Slaughterhouse Cases, you’re
right!  As of the 1860s, some 300,000 livestock
animals were slaughtered annually at facilities along the Mississippi River in and
around New Orleans, upstream of water supply intakes, with much of the untreated
waste from the process reaching the river. 
Concerns over the potential for diseases from this water contamination
led the Louisiana legislature to pass the Slaughterhouse Act of 1869.  This law authorized a single corporation to
operate one slaughterhouse facility on the Mississippi downstream of New
Orleans and required all butchers in the area to use that facility.  Butchers’ organizations filed suit, alleging
that the law infringed on their work rights in violation of the 14th Amendment’s
clauses prohibiting states from abridging the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States and from denying people equal protection of the
laws.

On April 14, 1873, the Supreme Court issued its ruling, with
the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Miller.  Miller’s opinion upheld the Louisiana law,
finding that that the slaughterhouse monopoly granted by the state was within
the police powers to provide for public health and sanitation.  Justice Miller went further, however, in
asserting that the 14th Amendment gave the federal government
jurisdiction only over federal, or national, citizenship rights—that is,
privileges and immunities—but not over rights historically considered to result
from state citizenship.  Miller also asserted that the amendment’s
equal protection clause applied only to the case of Black people emancipated
from slavery.  The Slaughterhouse Cases decision, along with other related Supreme
Court decisions during the Reconstruction Era, created long-lasting legal
barriers to federal government efforts against state-level violations of civil
rights, such as racial and gender discrimination, voting restrictions, and
failure to prevent or prosecute racially-motivated crimes of violence.

Thanks to Dieter van der Westen and Free Music Archive for
making this week’s music available for public use, and we close with about 20
more seconds of “Mississippi Farewell.”

MUSIC – ~22 sec – instrumental.

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water
Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources
and Environment.  For more Virginia water
sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call
the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of
“Shenandoah” to open and close this episode. 
In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

“Mississippi Farewell,” from the 2022 album “Belin to
Bamako,” was made available on Free Music Archive, online at at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/dieter-van-der-westen/berlin-to-bamako/mississippi-farewell/.  as of 4-12-23, for use under the Creative
Commons License “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
4.0 International”; more information on that Creative Commons License is
available online at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

Click
here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the
“Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this
episode.  More information about Mr.
Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGE

Birds’ eye view of New Orleans in 1851.  Drawing by J. Bachman.  Image accessed from the Library of Congress’
Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, online at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93500720,
as of 4-18-23. 

EXTRA INFORMATION ON
THE 14TH AMENDMENT

The following information about, and text of, the 14th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was taken from National Archives, “Milestone
Documents: 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868),”
online at https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/14th-amendment.

“Following the Civil War, Congress submitted to the states
three amendments as part of its Reconstruction program to guarantee equal civil
and legal rights to Black citizens.  A
major provision of the 14th Amendment was to grant citizenship to ‘All persons
born or naturalized in the United States,’ thereby granting citizenship to
formerly enslaved people.

“Another equally important provision was the statement that
‘nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.’  The right to
due process of law and equal protection of the law now applied to both the
federal and state governments.

“On June 16, 1866, the House Joint Resolution proposing the
14th Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states.  On July 28, 1868, the 14th amendment was
declared, in a certificate of the Secretary of State, ratified by the necessary
28 of the 37 States, and became part of the supreme law of the land.”

Text of 14th
Amendment

Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of
the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.

Section 2.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of
persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote
at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of
the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial
officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to
any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged,
except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of
representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of
such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one
years of age in such state.

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or
military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously
taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States,
or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer
of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort
to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House,
remove such disability.

Section 4.

The validity of the public debt of the United States,
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be
questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any
debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the
United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all
such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.

SOURCES

Used for Audio

Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, “Teaching American
History/United States v. Cruikshank” undated, online at https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/united-states-v-cruikshank/.

Jack Beatty, Age of
Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900, Vintage Books, New
York, N.Y., 2007.

Ronald M. Labbe and Jonathan Lurie, The Slaughterhouse Cases: Regulation, Reconstruction, and the
Fourteenth Amendment, University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, 2003.

Danny Lewis, “The
1873 Colfax Massacre Crippled the Reconstruction Era,” Smithsonian Magazine, April 13, 2016.

Linda R. Monk, The
Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution, Hachette Books,
New York, N.Y., 2015.

Oyez (Cornell University Law School/Legal Information
Institute, Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law), “Slaughter-House Cases,”
online at https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/83us36.

Melvin I. Urofsky and Paul Finkelman, A March of Liberty – A Constitutional History of the United States,
Volume I: From the Founding to 1900, Third Edition, Oxford University
Press, Oxford, U.K., 2011.

John R. Vile, “Slaughterhouse Cases (1873),” Middle
Tennessee State University/The First Amendment Encyclopedia, online at https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/527/slaughterhouse-cases.

Other Sources on the
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Cornell University Law School/Legal Information Institute:

“U.S. Constitution/14th Amendment,” online at https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv;
and

“Fourteenth Amendment,” online at https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fourteenth_amendment_0.

Thurgood Marshall Institute, “The 14th Amendment,” online at
https://tminstituteldf.org/tmi-explains/thurgood-marshall-institute-briefs/tmi-briefs-the-14th-amendment/.

NAACP, “Celebrate and Defend the Fourteenth Amendment
Resolution,” 2013, online at https://naacp.org/resources/celebrate-and-defend-fourteenth-amendment.

U.S. House of Representatives, “Constitutional Amendments
and Major Civil Rights Acts of Congress Referenced in Black Americans in
Congress,” online at https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Data/Constitutional-Amendments-and-Legislation/.

U.S. National Archives, “Milestone Documents: 14th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868),” online at https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/14th-amendment.

U.S. Senate, “Landmark Legislation: The Fourteenth
Amendment,” online at https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-and-constitution/14th-amendment.htm.

For More Information
about Civil Rights in the United States

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “The Civil Rights
Movement in America,” online at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zcpcwmn/revision/1.

Howard University
Law Library, “A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States,” online at https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/intro.

University of Maryland School of Law/Thurgood Marshall Law
Library, “Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil
Rights,” online at https://law.umaryland.libguides.com/commission_civil_rights.

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, online at https://www.usccr.gov/.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index
link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “History” subject
category.

This episode is part
of the series, Exploring Water in U.S. Civil Rights History.  As of April 17, 2023, other episodes in the
series are as follows.

Series overview – Episode 566, 3-1-21.

Water Symbolism in African American Civil Rights History – Episode 591, 8-23-21.

Uses of Water By and Against African Americans in U.S. Civil Rights History – Episode 616, 2-14-22.

Water Places in U.S. Civil Rights History - Episode 619, 3-7-22.
The 14th Amendment and Water-related Civil Rights Claims –
Part 1: Introduction to the 14th Amendment – Episode
652, 4-3-23.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS
– RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

Following are some Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs)
that may be supported by this episode’s audio/transcript, sources, or other
information included in this post.

2020 Music SOLs

SOLs at various
grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other
fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2015 Social
Studies SOLs

Grades K-3 Civics
Theme
3.12 – Importance of government in community, Virginia, and
the United States, including government protecting rights and property of
individuals.

Virginia Studies
Course
VS.9 – How national events affected Virginia and its
citizens.

United States History
to 1865 Course
USI.9 – Causes, events, and effects of the Civil War.

United States History:
1865-to-Present Course
USII.3 – Effects of Reconstruction on American life.
USII.8 – Economic, social, and political transformation of
the United States and the world after World War II.

Civics and Economics
Course
CE.2 – Foundations, purposes, and components of the U.S.
Constitution.
CE.3 – Citizenship rights, duties, and responsibilities.
CE.6 – Government at the national level.
CE.7 – Government at the state level.
CE.10 – Public policy at local, state, and national levels.

Virginia and United
States History Course
VUS.7 – Knowledge of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.

Government Course
GOVT.3 – Concepts of democracy.
GOVT.4 – Purposes, principles, and structure of the U.S.
Constitution.
GOVT.5 – Federal system of government in the United States.
GOVT.7 – National government organization and powers.
GOVT.8 – State and local government organization and powers.
GOVT.9 – Public policy process at local, state, and national
levels.
GOVT.11 – Civil liberties and civil rights.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online
at https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade
levels.

Episode
250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Episode
255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.

Episode
282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.

Episode
309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten
through 12th grade.

Episode
333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic
habitats, for 5th grade.

Episode
404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.

Episode
407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Episode
483, 7-29-19 – on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.

Episode
524, 5-11-20 – on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school
through high school.

Episode
531, 6-29-20 – on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd and 4th
grade.

Episode
539, 8-24-20 – on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources,
for 4th and 6th grade.

Episode
606, 12-6-21 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.