The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-08-27
RIGHTS OF FREE NEGROES IN MAINE.
CAN THEY vOTEi
OPINION OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT

The undersigned, Justices of the Supreme
Judicial Court, respectfully present their opin.
ion in answer to the interrogstory addressed to
them by the order of the Senate under date of
March rs, 1857.
The interrogatory, as propounded, is very
comprehensive in its terms, and includes free
colored persons, Of African descent, having q
residence established in some town in this
State, for the term of three months next prsce-
ding any election" &c, whether such persons
are men, women, children, p.upers, persons
unoer guardianship, or unnaturaized foreign
ers."
Presuming it to have been the intention of
the Senate to conhue the inquiry to free color
ed male persons Of African descent, who are
t~enty-one years of age and up wards, aud who
are possessed of the other qualifications requi-
site TO constitute q white citizen voter, we
will proceed to answer.
Art. z, sec. l, Of the Constitution of Maine.
provides that
Every male citizen of the United States, of
the age OF twentyone years and upwards, ex-
cepung paupers, persons under guardianship,
and Indians not taxed, having his residence ca
tsblished in this State for the term of three
months next preceding any election, shall be
an elector for Governor, Senators, and Repre-
sentatives, in the town or plantation where his
residence is 80 established"
Inns raises for our Consideration the distinct
question, whether free, native born colored per-
so5s, OF African descent, are recognised "a
"citihens of the United States in the above
provision of the Constitution.
The political status of that portion of the Az.
rlcan race IN this country which is not in the
state OF slavery has long been matter Of con-
testanon, not only among politicians, but 10
some extent also among courts and jurists.
tnF IL
OF the second volume of his Commentaries. (4th
edition, says
Citizens, under our Constitution and laws
mean free inhabitants, born within the United
states, or naturalised under the laws of Con-
gress. II slave, born in the United States.
De manumltted, or otherwise lawfully discharg.
ed from bondage, or if black man be BON
within the United States, and born free, he ba-
comes thenceforward citizen, but under such
disabilities as the laws of the States, respect
veiy, may deem it expedien: to prescribe to
free persons of color"
>. Inns doctrine, though supported by high iu-
oiclal authority, ID BY no means universally adj
United. Courts and jurists of high re.nectsh;l.
ity and authority have denied that negroes Of
African descent, whose ancestors were of pure
African blood, and were brought into this conn.
try and sold as slaves, are or can become cit;-
Zens OIL the United States. within the meaning
OF the Constitution of the United States This
doctrine has recently been maintained with
much zeal, and at great length, in the case of
bred Scott ogt. Sanford, 20 Towards u. S.R.
3'5. Substantially the same doctrines have
neen promulgated in Amy dgt. Claiborne. I
Meigss Tenn. r 33l; Pendleton agt. State.
l Eng. Ark r., 500; Cooper agt the Mayor of
oaSannan' Geo, %; and by Daggett, c. j.,
In State dgt. Crandell, in Connecticut.
a &c 81 =
own fnrrTrsrr merits, and they will undoubtedly
receive that degree of respect to which. as L.
gal productions, they are Justly entitled. Thew
do not, however, affect the question now be-
fore US.
Our present inquiry is confined to an inter
pretation OF the provision in our own Constitu-
ton already cited, and the term citizen of the
United States" as used therein.
Art. a, sec. l, of the Constitution of the Uni
ted States, provides that
The citizens of each State shall be entitled
to all privileges and immunities of citizens in
the several States"
NOur inquiry, therefore, extends not only to
the rights of free colored persons of African
descent who were born within this State, but
also 70 the same class Of persons who may have
been born in other States. but who NAV have
become residents of this State.
Chief Justice fancy, in the opinion Of the
majority Of the court in the case Of bred Scott
agt Sanford, cited above, LAYS down the fol-
loving propositions as to citizenship Of the Uni
ted States:
Rawle, in his Commentaries, says:
IL 10 true, every person, and every class and
description OF persons, who were at the time Of
tne adoption of the Constitu, ion recognised as
citizens IN the several States, became also citi-
Eens OF this new political body; but none other
1t was formed by them, and for them and their
posterlty, but for no one else. And the personal
rights and privileges guaranteed to citizens Of
TINS new sovereignty, were intended TO embrace
those only who were then members of the seve-
raj State communities, or who should after
wards, by birtbright or otherwise, become mem
bers according to the provisions of the Consti-
tuition, and the principles on which it was
founded. 1t was the union of those who were
at that time members of distinct and separate
political communities into one political family,
whose power, for certain specified purposes,
was to extend over the whole territory of the
Uni ed States. And it gave to each citizen
rights and privileges outside of his State which
he did not before possess, and placed him in
every other State upon perfect equality with
its own citizens, as to rights of person and
rights of property-it made him a citizen of the
United States"
citizens of the United States when tne Consti-
tuition was adopted. The rights which apper-
tain to them as citizens Of those respectable
Commonweslths accompanied them in the form
alton of the great compound Commonwealth
which ensued. They became citizens Of the
latter, without ceasing to be citizens Of the for
mer and he who was subsequently born citi-
zen of State, became, at the moment of his
birth, citizen Of the United States."-RaDle
on the Constitution, p. Sc.
"Every citizen of State is. ipso facto citi-
zen Of the United States. "-iSsory on the Con-
stifatiOn, vol. Iii, p. SOS.
Such being the operation Of that provision
of the Constitution of the United States which
we have cited above, upon the condition of those
persons who were recognised as citizens of the
several States at the adoption Of the Constitu-
ton, 1t becomes pertinent to our inquiry to as
certain the political condition of the free colored
people of African descent in the several States
at that time. Were they then recognised a.
citizens of any Of the States which entered into
and composed part Of the United States7 Let
the Constitutions of the States then existing,
and the practice under them, answer. The fact
of citizenship may be established in various
ways. The enjoyment of the elective franchise
is believed to be one of the highest tests of the
fact.
There may be citizenship without the epioy.
ment of this right, as in the case of women,
children, paupers, and the like; but it is believ.
ed no instance can be found in which the right
to vote at our general elections has been con.
ceded to persons born on our soil who were not
at the time deemed citizens of the States in
which they enjoyed the right.
The Constitution of the United States wss
adopted September II, 1887.
The Constitution of New York, adopted April