free colored man could have no protection in any slave State during the existence of the relation of master and slave. He could not change his residence, nor travel at pleasure; he could neither buy, sell nor hold property; he was liable to be enslaved under various circumstances, and such laws were often enforced. Those who contend for "the Constitution as it is and the Union as it was," affect to acknowledge the freedom of the colored people; but, by a series of unfriendly legislation, many of the states construe that freedom to mean no acknowledgment of citizenship and the enjoyment of very few rights. Without enumerating the disgraceful particulars of legislation, it must be apparent to every candid mind, that the Constitution must be so amended as to place restrictions upon the States, or else the Negro must be virtually reenslaved. The clause, together with the rest of the Fourteenth Amendment, became part of the Constitution in July 1868. Interpretation after adoption Many judges and scholars have interpreted this clause, and the Slaughter-House Cases decided in 1873 have thus far been the most influential. Pre-Slaughter-House On January 30, 1871, the House Judiciary Committee, led by John Bingham, released a House Report No. 22, which was authored by Bingham himself, interpreting the Fourteenth's privileges or immunities this way (Emphasis added): The clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States," does not, in the opinion of the committee, refer to privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States other than those privileges and immunities embraced in the original text of the Constitution, article four, section two. The Fourteenth Amendment, it is believed, did not add to the privileges or immunities before mentioned, but was deemed necessary for the enforcement as an express limitation upon the powers of the States. It had been judicially determined that the first Eight Amendments of the Constitution were not limitations on the power of the States, and it was apprehended that the same might be held of the provision of the second section, fourth article. Shortly thereafter, on March 31, 1871, Bingham elaborated: I hope the gentleman now knows why I changed the form of the amendment of February, 1866. Mr. Speaker, that the scope and meaning of the limitations imposed by the first section, fourteenth amendment