The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-04-01

pea 10 luo JuElsulcllon. he SAID that Dr6d
Scott was negro; that his ancestors came
from Africa that they were slaves, and there
fore he was not citizen of the United States,
and he had no right to hearing in that court
bred Scott demurred to that plea; and that de-
murrer came up before the court, and it was
the only question they could decide. After
getting the plaintiff out of court, and saying he
has no standing here, after numbering him, the
court go on to declare principles most fatal 10
the liberties and rights of many of the Ameri-
can people. The like was never done before
in any court. No court in this Union has been
heretofore more chary of giving decisions that
were not called for by the case, than the Su-
preme Court of the United States. They have
always repudiated it. They would never go
further than the necessities Of the case required
them to go. Was not the decision of the ques-
ton of jurisdiction an end of this case2 A
majority of the judges decided that bred Scott
had no right to be in the court. They dismiss
ed him from their consideration What further
was there to do2 The Senator from Louis
lana, in his argument, did not pretend, as a
lawyer to argue that this was not the effect Of
the decision; but he uttered what seemed to me
very much like sophistry. He read from the
opinions of the court, claiming that they had a
right to go further. do not care what they
claimed. Any man that ever went through a
lawyers office knows that when they decided
that the plaintiff had no standing in court the
case was at an end; and any opinion they
should give after that was a q ere Obiter dictunl,
entitled to no more respect than though it had
been delivered here or in the streets.
Mr.. President, there is another thing to be
considered in reference to that case Here, to
be sure, was poor negro, having no friends,
10 consideration, nobody to look TO his interests.
He was member of degraded class, with
whom the court might deal with perfect impu-
nifty. fear that the court, swayed by political
reasons, forgot the rights of bred Scott, and
plunged into this political whirlpool, in order to
control Its currents. Is it not remarkable that
America, the first nation in the world, should
decide that a man may be 20 low that he can
not even seek bis rights in the courts of the
country Was there ever anything like It in
any community before, whether civilized or
barbarous? The court tells us we have men
among US SO low that they can have no rights;
| that they are mere merchandise. But | will
not travel into that field, which has been 90
ably discussed by the Senator from New Hamp-
SHIRE, Mr. HALE They grounded their de-
| cision upon history, not the Constitution They
travelled out of the Constitution of the United
States, and sought to found their decision upon
what they picked up as scraps of history here
and there; and that history was entirely and
utterly perverted, as was proved by the Senator
from New Hampshire, so palpably that no gem
tieman on the other side has yet risen to chal.
| ienge It's accuracy; and they cannot do it.
have law of Virginia here in nv drawer.
which was passed at about the period of which
the Supreme Court speak when they say tbat
negroes were considered as chattels whom anv
man might seize and convert to his own use.
AT that very instant, in old Virginia, be was a
| citizen, made so by statute, if he was free: and
90 not know but that he had all the rights Of q
white man. At all events, he was declared there
to be citizen. He was then q citizen in at
least eight of the States of this Union.
Mr.. MASON. Will the Senator advert 10 that
statute, and give me its title | will no, inter.
rupt him now, though.
man.
Mr.. MASON. viii rot interrupt the gentle
man now,
Ar. WADE. 1 have it here, though NAV
| not De able to put my hands on the exact place
a. t2is moment. In eight States of the Union, q
olsck man was ga citizen; and do not know but
that he was entitled to all the rights of a white
man Tor at that period you will find, if you search
the history of the country, that a distinction
between black and white was not taken. i. was
between slave and free. That was the question
up TO the time alluded to by the Chief Justice.
| Can ind nothing that discriminates between
the color OF men. The only question was,
| whether a man was o freeman. IF he was he
was entitled to sill the rights of a freeman. e
ne was nos, he was slave. But the Chief
Jrst'ce says that all of them were so held. Good
| heavens Had he not heard of the scathing
anathema OF Thomas Jefferson, of Judge Tuck.
or, and OF other great lights and worthless of
.ne Oio Dominion, about that same period,
| In language more pointed than any other men
could use? When was it that Thomas Jeffer.
son said he trembled for his country, when he
reflected that God was just, and that his ven
geance would not sleep forever? Yet the Chief
Justice says it was not controverted by anybody.
SIR, u was controverted by every man of the
Revolution. They, seeking their own rights at
the cannons mouth, claiming for themselves
the utmost freedom, and invoking the aid of
dod 10 help them to work it out had not the
impudence TO look to Heaven, and ask a bless
ing On their exertions in favor of liberty which
they denied to their fellow men. No such re-
prosch, Judge fancy, can be brought on the
heads OF the great worthless Of the Revolution.
The honorable Senator from Louisiana, with
that plausible and beautiful style of which he is
so completely master, tried to escape from the
rugged Inconsistencies of this nefarious decis-
loA, oy passing eulogy Oh me old Chief Justice.
IL was beautiful 1t relieved him from the bur
den OF encounterl1g the enormous, glazing uu-
constitutionelities and breaches of Law summed
up there. Why, cir, he went so far as to send
TIE old man TO Heaven even before he died. I
do not think that decision will help him on his
road de cooliy joins the current of popular
opinion, turns away from the poor man who
mas sought the administration of law in his be-
hall, and says to him, "you are a negro, and
you cannot sue in court; if you have rights, we
cannot investigate them; you are a mere chat
TEL SIR, II that helps man to heaven, God
loroid tnat should act upon such principles.
CONGRESS NOT BARRED OUT
There is another consideration co.onected
with this decision. have not time. and have
not made ii point, to go into all ats epormities-
Tsers are only one or two ooints in it that 7
wish to bring before the Senate. So far "a
have heard them, those who Weld to the decis-
ION OF the Supreme Court seem to suppose that
1t 10 obligatory on everybody, and that the Senate
OF the United States, like poor bred Scott, are
barred and thrown out of court; that the Pres
ldent OF the United States, and the House OF
Representatives, and every department of the
1oVernment, are ignored, and no better off than
poor bred Scott. l deny the doc.rine-the
most dangerous that could'be s.dmitted in a
Tree conntry-that these judges, holding their
once tor life, reposing Sith total immunity,
have any right to decida the law of,the land for
every department 81 this Government. Sir, Won
would have tAa most concentrated, irresponsi
Die despottsDs on Gods earth, if you give such
"a Interpretation to the decisions of that or anv
other court. No, sir each department must
act tor itself. 1 stand here, clothed with the
same power, to proclaim what is tho Constitu,.
ton upon the passage of any law that comes
before us, as that or any other court. ! follow
my own interpretation OF the Constitution;
a m NM nd m Do n l.