Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1857-10-15

any act of Congress or Territory, prohibiting
property in slaves. is pronounced uncOnstltuuhn-
al aud void. This decision CONFLICTS with the leg
islalon Of Congress from the foundation of the
government down to the year 1854. when the
fruitful source of all our woes, the Kansas and
Nebraska Bill, by northern treachery and the in
satiate demands of the South for an enlarged
Slave market. and an increased political power,
was spraRg upon our unsuspecting psope 1t
declares Unconstitutional the numerous org,nc
acts OF Congress, establishing the territorial
governments Of the NORTH West Territory, of the
Territories OF Indiana, tIliuois, Michigan, Wis.
ennsn, losa and Oregon, the Compromise of
1920 and the act for the admission of rexas.-
1t contradcts the ppiuons of our most eminent
statesmen and jorSts expressed for long series
of years, both ia Congress and from tho bench
Of the Supreme Court, by Clay, by Marshall,
and all the leading men of the country both
from the North and the Sjuth, with the single
exception of Mr., Calhoun, deemed 10 his life
time, even by his fellow Shareholders. as extreme
and iauatica in bis support Of Slavery. In that
portion Of the decisioo touching the citizenship
of the African race, it perverts and mlsrepre
sents the plain and obvious truths of history
Under the ruling OF the majority Of the Court,
the acquisition OF new territory will result in
the certain extension oil Slavery. Not even the
people of the Territories themselves are allowed
to exclude Slavery from their midst; they are
doomed to its whitening curse, and notwithstand-
ing the sounding promise in tho Kansas and
Nebraska Bill. that they should he left per
iectly FREQ to form and regulate their domestic
institutions in their own way they cannot.
while in the Territorial condition, shake it off.
The great improb.biIity that, when Slavery has
once planted its foot upon Territory, il will
ever be ab'llahed, il proved by the impotsnt
efforts Of the "best,citzens OF the olden Slave
States, to rid themselves of the system of Slave.
ry, whiph is degrading and running them.
The logical results Of this decision are alarm-
ing in the extreme, and may we'll arouse the
Free States from their dangerous apathy. If,
as declared by the majority of the Court, tho
Constitution guarantees property in Slaves, and
prohibits any law interfering with the right Of
the master to his slave, it is a fair inference, il
not il necessary Conclusion, that the stakeholder
may, for purposes Of pleasure or profit, take his
slaves with him in his journeys through the
Free States, and hold them there, notwithstand
ing the abs ute prohibition Of slavery by theil
laws. But fortunately. most of the abhorren
doctrines enunciated by the maj ,rity of the
Judges were unnecessary to the determination
II the case before them. and are therefore moi
clothed with the authority of law They have
been we'll and boldly characterized BY one of the
dissenting judges. the Oldest menbr of tn,
q 'urt and the ONLY surviving Ass ,ciate of the
venerated MARSHALL, as extra judicial and of nj
binding force as authority. am sure, when
one of the judges themselves Use this indisn IN,
and unqualified Language, that the peope O
Vermont will not qas'ly acquiesce in an un"cc