Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1858-07-01


The several points OF the Dred Scott de
cision. in connection with Senator Douglas
"care not" policy, constitute the piece O
machinery in its present state of advance
ment. The working points of that machine
ry are
Firs. That no negro slave, imported a
such from Africa, and no descendant O
such slave, can ever be a citizen of any State
in the sense of that term as used in the Con
istitution Of the United States. This poin
is made in order to deprive the negro, il
every possible event, of the benefit of tha
provision of the United States Constitution
which, declares that The citizens of each
State shall be entitled to all the privileges
aud immunitics of citizens in the severa
States
Secondly, That "snliect to the Consti
tuition of the United States,' neither Con
gress nor Territorial Legislature can ex
clude slavery from any United States terri
4 tory. This point is made in opier that in
divldual men NAV fill up the territories will
slaves, without danger of losing them a
property, and thus to enhance The chance,
of permancncy to the institution through
all the future. 1fI sa2 ss,s,s.
! Thirdly, That whether the holding ne
groin actual slavery in free State. makes
him free. as against the holder, the United
States courts will not decide, but will leave
to be decided by the courts of any slave
State tile negro NAV be forced into hy the
master This point IL made. not TO he
pressed Immediately, but if acquiesccl in
for whlle. and apparently indorsed by tllc
people at an election, then to sustain the
logical conclusion that what Died Scott s
master might lawfully do with DIel Scott,
IN the free State of Illinois, every other mas
tel may lawfully dowith any other one, OF
one thousand slaves Ill Illinois, OF in any
other flee State. a9t -
Auxiliary 90 all this. and working hand
III hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or
what is left of it, il to educate and mould
public opinion, at least Northern public O.
pinion. not to care whether slavery Is voted
down or voted up This shows exactly
where we now are, and partially, also,
whittier we are tending
1t will throw additional light on the lat
ter, to go back, aud run the mind over the
string of historical events already stated. -
Several things Will now appear less dark
and mysterious than they did when they
were transpiring The people were to be
left perfectly fiee." Subject only TO the
Constitution" What the Constitution
had to do with il, outsiders could not then
see. Plainly enough now, it wasan exact
ly fitted niche, for the Drcd Scott decision
TO afterwards come in, and declare the per
iect freedom of the people. TO be Just 10
freedom at all. Why was the amendment,
expressly declaring the right of the people,
yotol down? PLAINLY enough now: the
adoption Of it would have spoile1 the niche
for the Drel Scott decision Why was
the court decision held up? Why even
Senator's in livilual opinion withheld. till
after the Presidential election? Plainly
enough now: tue speaking out then would
have damaged the perfectly free argument
upon which the election was to be carried
Why the outgoing Presidents feliritation
on the endorsement? Why the delay of
re-argument? Why the incoming Presi-
dents advance exhostatior III favor of the
decision? These things look like the eau
tIous patting AMI pcttins OF a spirited horse
to mounting him. when it is
dreaded that he may give the rider a fall.
And why the hasty after endorsement of
the decision by the President and others?
We cannot absolutely know that all
these exact adaptions are the result OF pre-
But when we see lot of framed
different portions of winch we
know have been gotten out at different times
and places and by different wolkmcn-Ste-
phen, Franklin, Roger ami James, for in
when we see these tlmbers
joined together. and see they exactly make !
the frame of a house or a mil. all the ten
ons and mortices exactly fitting, and all
the lengths and proportions OF the different
pieces exactly adapted to their respective
places, and not piece too many or too few |
not omitting even scaffolding if a !
single piece be lacking, we see the place in
the frame exactly fittel and prepared yet |
to bring Sucn piece iu-in such a case, we !
find 1T impossible not to believe that Ste 4
phcn and Franklin and Roger and James +
all understood one another from the begin
ming, and all worked upon a common plan
OF draft drawn up before the first blow wa
struck
1t should not be overlooked that by the
Nebraska bill, the peopleo OF State a. well
as Territory, were to be left perfectly
rec. !" subject only to the Constitution
Why mention State? They were legis-
ating for Territories, and not fvr OF about
States Certainly the people of State
Ire and ought to be subject to the Consti
ution of the United States; but why is men
ION Of this lugged into this merely Terri
.orial law? Why are the people of Ter
ritory and the people of State therein
umpcd together, and their relation to the
Constitution therein treated as being pre-
.isely the samee While the opinion of
he Court, by Chief Justice Taney in the
bred Scott case. and the seperate opiaions
If all the concnrring Judges, expressly de-
:lare that the Constitution of the United
States neither permits Congress nor Ter
itorial Legislature to exclude Slavery from
my United States Territory, they all omit
o declare whether or not the same Consti
ution permits State, or the people of
State, to exclude it. Possibly, this is
mere omission; but who can be quite sure,
t Mclean or Curtis had sought to get into
he opinion a declaration of the unlimited