The right of persons to travel from State to State,95 though apparently not strictly upheld during the early years of the Constitution,96 has been, since the middle of the last century, well established. Though questioned and not clearly sustained in New York v. Miln,97 and the License Cases,98 it was definitely declared in the Passenger Cases,99 decided in 1848, that persons are articles of commerce, and, therefore, that their travel from State to State is protected by the Commerce Clause from state interference. Also in Crandall v. Nevada,1 decided in 1868, the right was held to be one which attaches to federal citizenship and, therefore, protected from state interference independently of the Commerce Clause.

In Henderson v. Mayor of New York2 and People v. Compagnie Generale Translantique3 state taxation of immigrants from foreign countries was declared unconstitutional, the validity of the laws not being saved by terming them police or inspection regulations.