The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-02-03

with the principles Of the Declaration
But to the more specific This court
was forced to admit, and thereby admitted ,
away its whole case, that all who were
citizens in the several States at the si1ne
of the adoption of the Constitution, be-
came citizens of the United States (Page
1867 So VIC have only to inquire whetR-,
er free blacks were then citizens in any of c
the States. sus
assert that the native born among
them were then citizens in all the States;
| because gaGa
l. They were citizens by tho general
law, by virtue Of their natigity, unless
excluded by express and uneqnivocal en-
aciments aud have been unable to8fads
such exclusion in any of the States.
| 2. The articles of Confederation had
made them general citizens. The free
inhabitants of each of these States, pau
pers, vagabonds, aud fugitives from jus
tice excepted, shall be entitled to all the
pIiyeleges and imnunities of free citizens
in the several States It would seem
that nothing could be more plain -th,ns
this, and especially when an unsnccessfaE
attempt was made to amend it BY Inserting
! "whits" before "inhabitants," and especsi
Ially, also, as the article itself contains
exceptions not including negroes And
yet, with characteristic effrontery, this
court asserts that Stree inhabitants' can,
not include FREQ negroes, and for the rea-
son mark the logic, that the southern State.
in order to throw the all war upon the
States best able to bear it, procured the
adoption of The provision that the QUO of
land forces should be proportioned to the
"white inhabitants" of the States Be-
cause of this apportionment of troops,
| therefore-no therefore is not sufficiently
positive, and the sequitur requires vezv
strong connective; " it cannot for q mo-
ment be esupposed, says the court, that
ss free inhabitlnts" can mean other than
free white inhabitants This seqaitstT.re-
minds mo of the boys syllogism ssI gave
my knife for ride to Boston my knife
cost fifty cents it is therefore fifty miles
to Boston" Ifany one doubts the con-
clusion, it can be at once nailed by some
| authoritative pronuncia0siento that H none
other can be supposed" What fopls comf
posed the Delegations that sought to in
sert I" white as restrictive Of general
citizenship, and with others actually pro-
cured its insertion as restrictive of their
obligations to raise troops They shoulS
know that it was always understood.
3. They were universally recognized "a
citizens. The elective franchise, till very
recently granted to none but citizens, Was
conferred upon them In nearly all the
! original States was within my recalieatinn
enjoyed in North Carolina, Tennessee and
| Pennsylvania, and still! is in New York
and nearly all the New England States.
Their citizenship itself was scarcely, If at
all, disputed, South Carolina and Delaware
alone refcsed them the rights of electors,
| but cannot learn that even there the
general law upon the subject was doubted
| or sought to be changed.
The new-fangled idea of this court was
clearly unknown in 1900. In that year
Mr.. Walsh presented to the House an an.
ii sfsyery petition from the free men of
color of Philadelphia. The petitioners
expressly spoke of themselves as citizens
of the United States and although the
petition caused two whole days of angry
discussion, none disputed the fact of citi-
zeaship, or claimed for it any different
treatment than though it came from
whites.
/ I can only allude to the complaint of
Mr.. Jefferson against tho attack of
British ship-of war upon the Chesapeake,
and killing and seizing :; American citi-
zens'-those' citizens being negroes to
the proclamation of General jackson at
New Orleans, calling upon the free color
ed people, as citizens, to rally in defense
of their country the final resolution of
Congress admitting Missouri into the
Union. oyerruline one clause of her con-
/ stitution AGAINST free men of color from
other Statss. becanse It contrayened that
cIa,ss of the const;tpt;on ona,antvino
al c;t;zansbin or - the forma, 1rac.
f;ce of crant;ne foreign nassnort. to free
colored ga we'll as white c;t;zsns. and
| cannot allude at all to the thousand other
/ similar instances that challenge attention.
Tbev ali render absurd the assamntion
that these nersons {. were NOT recorded in
anv of States as mem hers of the commn.
| nify.', Re =
have na time to 90 into further de-
tail but i;aasmuch rs the Chief Justice
has asserted that q il cannot be believed
tbat-.tba eIaroer slaveboId;ng States re-
/