The Constitution was designed not only to protect Americans from unfair treatment by the federal government and foreign actors, but also to safeguard their rights when traveling to or moving from one state to another.
Article IV, Section 2 protects Americans from being unfairly treated by states simply because they come from another state. It also requires states to return accused criminals who flee across state lines to escape justice.
Article IV, Section 2
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
Extradition, the process by which fugitives are returned to the state where they are accused of committing a crime, helps prevent suspects from escaping justice simply by going to a different state. Congress created the practice and initially allowed the governors of each state to enforce it. In modern America, however, the courts have the power to extradite accused escapees.
Article IV, Section 2 originally included the following provision:
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
This clause allowed slave owners to capture runaway slaves who sought refuge in another state. When slavery was abolished under the 13th Amendment, the provision was removed.
