Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-04-04

--A ~AAC o~0s - AAAe-AAC CA~-~~-r- -
The Union and american of Thursday,
comedies that it is not polite that the
States should confer upon aliens and Others
the rights of citizenship independently OF
congressional legislation; that it is satisfied
with the provisions of the Constitution of
Tennessee upon this subject, which restricts
the right of voting to citizens Of the United
States We are glad to chronicle this nm
usual manifestation of true conservatism
and genuine Americanism, on the part of
our contemporary. That paper still asserts,
however, that the States have the power
to make citizens of aliens and indeed, DO
ters Of FREE negroes; but declines an argu-
ment with us upon that question. We are
not inclined, at this time to press discus
sion, as there are other issues which are Of
much more immediate interest.
But while our neighbors assume this DO
Sition, they continue to place us in opposi-
ton to the Supreme Court, and make this
matter of fat. We think our neighbors
are themselves, laboring under a mistake
In point of fact. The Chief Justice, him
self on former occasion held the identical
opinions, which we now advocate. There
have been some occasional exceptional adj
Indications, but we think, upon a proper
analysis Of all the cases, the decisions OF
the Supreme Court will be found, substan.
tally uniform. That great light of Ameri
can Jurisprudence, JAMES KENT, is full and
explicit in the denial of this right to the
States. We Subjoin an extract from the
opinion delivered by Judge fancy in the
cases of Smith rs Turner, and Norris .,
Boston wherein he holds doctrine, diane.
trically opposite to the recent dictnm thrown
out in the bred Scott case:
"Itcannot be necessary to say anything upon
the article of the Constitution which gives tc
Congress the power to establish uniform rule
of naturalization. The motive and object o.
this provision are too plain TO be msunder
stood. Under the Constitution of the United
States, citizens of each State are entitled to
the privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several States, and no STATE would be willing
that another State should determine for il
what foreigner should become one of its citi
gems, and be entitled to hold lands and to vote
at its elections For without this provision
any one State could have given the right O
citizenship in every other State; and as eCers
citizen Of State is also citizen of the United
States single State, without this provision,
might have given to any number of foreigners
itpeased, TIE right to all the privileges of cit
zenship in commerce, trade, and navigation al
though they did not even reside among US.
The nature of our institutions under the
Federal Government made it a matter of abso
lutte necessity that this power should be conf
ded to the government of the Union, where
al the States we're represented, and where al
had voice; a necessity so obvious that no
Statesman could have overlookedit The artic't
has nothing to do with the admission or rejec-
ton of aliens, nor with immigration, but with
the rights of citizenship It's sole object was
to prevent one State from forcing upon all the
others, and upon the General Government, per-
sons as citizens whom they were unwilling to
admit as such.
Thus it will be seen that, instead of be-
ing in opposition to the Supreme Court, we
are in perfect accord with what a0as the
deliberate judgment of the Chief Justice
himself. With this, we submit the ques'
ton.