Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1857-07-31

would not accuse the sclfstylcd democ-
= racy with iavoring a mixture Of white with
! African blood out they are as much for it as
the Republican party, and practically we know
s the fact that in the section Of the Union
where that party is supreme, the black race is
3 fast bleaching
+ To that part Of Judge Taney's argument
Z which assaults the Declaration of lndepen-
dence, and seeks To explain away its plain and
obvious meaning, have this TO say With
out going into the history of the negro race
at the tlme ofthe Declaration Of Independence,
and showing, as il can be shown, that Judge
Ianoy has grossly misunderstood or misrep-
resented the facts Of history, the declaration
THAT all men are created equal is to my
mird seu-oyidcnt truth nor is their any
thing in that declaration inconsistent with the
action of our Revolutionary Fathers, when
properly understood They did not mean
that all men were created of the same size,
weight color mental or physical capacity I;
but they did mean TO repudiato the idea of a
superiority of birth. by which the divine right
Of kings and Of a hereditary aristocracy was
upheld in the old World, and which is now
sought by the soli-styled democracy to be
transplantcd into the new and they meant
to assert that in a natural state all men were
equally entitled to live, to be free, and to pur-
sue happiness. Living in a state of nature.
unconnected with other individuals, all men
must necessarily be equal, for there would be
no superior to make law other than lie who
is the author of our being. These were
great natural truths which the trainers of the
/ Declaration Of Independence wished to i'm
press upon the minds of the people when they
were bursrng asunder the bonds of tyranny
foa rthi oh sl al
country, and resolving society into its orig
inal elements. with a view TO the formation of
a new system Of government. They knew
that every form of government was an en-
croachment upon the natural rights Of man.
and that on entering society every man gave
up part of his absolute rights In considera-
ton of receiving and being protected in the
advantages Of mutual, harmonious and friend
ly Intercourse, WITHOUT which liberty, and
even life itself are but dreary things.
As we'll might it be said that the distin-
guuishcd men who framed the Declaration of
Independence were "fagrantly inconsistent
with the principles they asserted when they
established any form of government whatev-
cr, for all interfere with the natural liberty Of
man to do whatever he peases, as to say they
were inconsistent in declaring that 'all men
are created equal, because in the government
they established they did not mako them so.
lhis declaration is equally true in regard to
the creation of man as it is to his final exit,
Tor he brought nothing into the world and
can take nothing away--as true to-day as
when uttered eighty-one years ago, or when
creation dawned, and the morning stars first
sang together.
Keeping this great truth of mans natural
equality before them, the polar star never
to be lost sight of in the formation of a new
government, our Revolutionary ancestors
framed Constitution interfering as little with
the natural rights of man as, in their iudg-
ment. was consistent with the thtA condition
of the people. their local governments and
the peace and good order of society Negro
slaves were then here, and held contrary to
natural right by virtue of local laws: they
did not think it best TO interfere with slavery
as an existing institution, but left it to be per
petuated or got rid of as best it might by the
States which tolerated it, giving to Congress.
as we insist, complete power to prevent its in
PRODUCTION into territories.
II is argued, however, that to recognize the
right of a free negro to sue in the United
States courts would necessarily recognize him
as entitled 20 al the personal and political
rights of white citizens, but such cunsequen-
cos by no means follow. As well might it be
said, that if you deny him one of the rights
of a citizen You deny him all, and reduce him
to tho level Of a brute, to be trampled upon
or slain with impunity. One Of these courses
of reasoning is Just as sound as the other.
and so Judge fancy seems to concede by his
argument, for he speaks of negroes as having
mo rights which the white man was bound to
respect" deny the correctness of this reas-
oning The free negro may and does have
some rights without possessing all, and to al .
low him to sue as a citizen in the United States
courts would no more confer upon him the
right Of voting and holding office, than it I
docs upon female or minor, both of whom .
are admitted to possess this right. though .
neither has the privilege of voting or holding
office. What, l would ask, is the condition
of foreigner during the first five years of his .
residence in this country. He is certainly
not a citizen of the United States before nat
and according to Judge Taneys
decision, indorsed by the self-styled domocra-
cy, that the grant of citizenship carries with
it the right to marry and other personal as
well as political rights, does it not necessarily
follow that denial of citizenship is denial
Of those rights
The idea that a negro cannot sue in
Ohltod oates court, because 20 allow him to
do so would necessarily confer on him all the
rights, socially and politically, of the white
nan, when women and children, and even cor
enjoy that privilege without any
such consequences following is, to my view,
lbsurd and yet this is the only reason given
or the extraordinary decision that negro
'annot sue in federal court This, howev-
lr, has been decided by the sectional majority
If the court, and in that case il is the law,
hough trust it will never be repeated in an
'ther. Having disposed Of the case by de-
iding that the court had no jurisdiction to
yet upon it, Judge Taney next proceeds to in
luire into the constitutionality of the Nilsson
i Compromise, and the power of Congress to
cquire and govern the territories.
He says The power to acquire necossari-
y carries with it the power to preserve and
pply to the purposes for which it was acquir-
d. The form Of the government to be ostab-
ished necessarily rested in the discretion of
Congress- acting within the scope of its con
authority. 1T was their duty to
stablsh the one that would be best suited
or the protection and security of the citizens
# the United States and other inhabitants
Who might be authorized to take up their