This is not true at all. Copying papers and documents was very common and expected in that time, and it has been since the dawn of writing. The 4th amendment is clearly meant to protect against this:
"The right of the people to be secure in their [...] papers [...] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated"
Why should the amendment protect papers if it is only the physical page that is protected and not the actual information?
It is more of a question of what is reasonable -- does a person know who has access to their information? Do they put their information out there with the understanding that it isn't private? The very basic idea here is that people should know what rights and privacies they have, and violating the conditions where they can reasonably expect privacy should be illegal.
"The right of the people to be secure in their [...] papers [...] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated"
Why should the amendment protect papers if it is only the physical page that is protected and not the actual information?
It is more of a question of what is reasonable -- does a person know who has access to their information? Do they put their information out there with the understanding that it isn't private? The very basic idea here is that people should know what rights and privacies they have, and violating the conditions where they can reasonably expect privacy should be illegal.