"We are not without judicial interpretation,therefore,both State and National,of the meaning of this clause.And it is sufficient to say that under no construction of that provision that we have ever seen,or any that we deem admissible,can the restraint imposed by the State of Louisiana upon the exercise of their trade by the butchers of New Orleans be held to be a deprivation of property within the meaning of that provision.Nor shall any State deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.In the light of the history of these amendments,and the pervading purpose of them,which we have already discussed,it is not difficult to give a meaning to this clause.The existence of laws in the States where the newly emancipated negroes resided,which discriminated with gross injustice and hardship against them as a class,was the evil to be remedied by this clause,and by it such laws are forbidden."
Supreme Court Justice Miller,Decision of the Court in the Slaughter House Cases,April 14,1873
-The effect of Supreme Court decisions like this one,in the wake of the Civil War,was to

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This excerpt from the Slaughter House Cases shows the Supreme Court limiting the scope of the 14th Amendment, which was intended to protect the rights of newly emancipated African Americans. By finding that the butchers of New Orleans were not being deprived of property in violation of the amendment and by interpreting the equal protection clause narrowly to apply only to discrimination against African Americans, the Court eroded the rights of African Americans and allowed for discriminatory practices to continue in the South.

"We Are Not Without Judicial Interpretation,therefore,both State and National,of the Meaning