Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-02-06

tncreIorsIuo, thoretore is not sufficiently posi-
I'VE unu we Seq"uur requires oery strong con.
uccuNc- II cannot Tor moment bo supposed' y
says the court, that "frec Inhabitants" can mean
other than free white Inhabitants! This Sequitil
reminds me OF the sJllogsm II gave my knife FOL
ride to Boston my knife cost fifty cents it il
! therefore fifty miles to Boston" If any ont
doubts .he conclusion il can be at once nailed b.
some authoritative proRUuciameHto, that none othe
uan Tor Il moment DO supposed. What fools com
posed the delegations that sought to usert white
"a restrictive of general citizenship, and will
others actually procured its insertion restrictv,
| OF their obligations to raise troops They should
have hown that it was alway understood.
D. They we're universally recognized citi
zens. The elective franchise, till very recent,
granted to none but citizens, was conferred upOr
them in nearly all the original States: was within
my own recollection enjoyed in North Carolina
Tennessee, and Pennsy yvania, and still is in New
York and nearly all the New England States
Their citizenship itself scarcely, if at all, dis
puted. South Carolina and Delaware alone refused
them the rights of electors, but l cannot learn
that there the general law upon the subject was
doubted or songht to be changed.
The new-tangled idea Of this court was clearly
unknown in 1900 In that year, Mr.. VAIN pre-
sented to the House an Anti-Siaverv petition from
tho free men Of color Of Philadelphia. The pet
TONERS expressly spoke Of themselves citizens Of
the United States and although the petition caus
ed two whole days Of angry discussion, none dis
putsd the fact Of citizenship, claimed for it any
different treatment than though it came from
whites.
can only allude to the complaint of Mr.. JEFF.
crson against the attack of British ship of war
upon the Chesapeake, killing and sezing Amer
lean cjtizens"-those citizens being negroes to
the proclamation Of Gen. jackson at New Orleans
calling upon the free colored people, us citizens, to
rally III defence Of their country; tho final resOlu.
tlOn Of Congress admitting Missouri into the Union
overruling one clause of her Constitution against
free Of color from other States, because it cot
rayened that clause of the Constitution guarantee.
ing general citizenship; or to the former practice
OF granting foreign passports to free coiOred well
as white citizens; and cannot allude at all to the
thousand other similar instance that challenge at.
tcntion. They all render absurd the assumption
that these persons "were not regarded in any of
the States as members of the community" &o
have no time to go into further detail; but in
asmuch as the Chief Justice has asserted that lit
cannot be believed that the larger slayeholding
States regarded them as included in the word cit
izens," | will briefly refer to the acts Of Virginia
on the subject which l beiYe was o tolerably
large slaveholding State. '-----'
The first action of Virginia upon citizenship
find in lienning, p l29, l30, in the act of May 3,
lII9, declaring who shall be deemed citizens of
this commonwealth" BY that act it was provided
that all white persons" &c, and ''the free white
inhabitants of every one Of the States" should be
deemed citizens of Virginia. This restriction to
white persons" within tho State was so contrary
to the general law aud to the spirit of the day
and the restriction TO the white inhabitants" of
the other States was so contrary to the Articles of
Confederation, that at the October session, 1888
I'll uenning, 323, 324 the act was expressly re-
pealed and it then enacted that call free per-
sons born within the territory Of this Common
wealth shall be deemed citizens of
this Commonwealth"
This last act continued in force some forty years
till race arose that knew not Joseph" till after
the commencement of that grand detection which
has eliminated in the Dred Scott decision. 81
cannot be believed" indeed! If this court would
give more attention to facts and less to despotic
interest and instincts it might be led to believe
many things yet hidden from its sight.
There is another fact in thelogi gislation of Virgin
ia that may throw little light upon the inquiry
as to whom this large sayeholding State regarded
ls included in the word citizen. Ia 0 Iennug,
2G7, 2GS. find ian act for regulating and disc
plining the militia" passed May s. l777 and in
force SO far as Eud at the time OF the adoption of
Of the Constitution. 1t begins as follows;
For forming the citizens of this Commonwealth
into militia, and disvi plining the uame for de-
fence thereof, be IL enacted by The General assembly
that all free male persons, hired servants, and ap
prentices, between the ages of fifteen and fifty
years, Except the Governor, ~ shall. by the |
officer Of the county in which they re-
side be enrolled and formed into companies Of not
css than thrty'two nor more than sxtyeight rank
md file, and these companies shall again be form
1d into battaliOns," &c.
Here we have it on the record, plain and une'
luiyocal, in the first year of our Independence
All free male person" are expressly recognised
included in the words "citlZens of this Common.
wealth." But this cannot be believed" our court
would say. "'The large slavehodng States could
1ot so regard them; and as we have decided that
free inhabitants means free white inhabitants, so
tree male persons must mean free white male per-
sons" But as if anticipating modern judicial ac-
amen, the same act goes on to say, the free mulat'
oes in said companies or battillions shall be en-
1loyed as drummers, ffers or pioneers" So it
must be believed" that free male persons" means
rec male persons.
Further, on page $50, find it provided that the
ecruitng officers shall not enlist any negro /
II mulatto in the service Of this or either of the
United States, until such negro or mulatto shall
,roduce certificate from sOmO justice of the
,eaoe of the county wherein he resides, that he is
free man."
And in view of the fact that all the States enlist
ID in the armies of the Revolution their free color
ID as well as white citizens, and upon the same
eTms; that they hocked to their cOuntry's stand
md with the same alacrity as the whites that
hey fought and bled on every battle-fed-the first
blood shed in the contest being that Of negro (;
hat ever SINCE they have been pensioned under
he same laws white soldiers-hOw intensely
mean the bald assumption that they we're not part
# the people of the United States Great are the
necessities of despotism and humliating the shifts
o which it drives its yotaries
If those who fought through the war to establish
ur liberties, who were electors in nearly every
State aud voted for the delegates that adapted the
who were now embraced under the
general law of citizenship, and nowhere excluded
If they formed no part of the people or citizens
f the country, should like to know on what rest
he claims of any man, when the necessities of
espotism demand his exclusion =?
| have, believe, succeeded in showing that Unit
d States citizenship in respect to natives, is
natter exclusively Of State regulation so that the
itizens of each State are citizens of the United
states; and l have also negatived the assumption
hat coiored natives nowhere treated and
onsidered as part of the people or citizens
{ the several States. at the adoption
{ the Federal Constitution. So that, with the
ndisputed and universal modern law, that makes
IL native members Of the community citizens,
'hich law is nowhere repealed, and is faithfully /
nforced in many of the States it plainly appears
sIn Virginia Gecrgr MARYLAND doubtful whether