Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1859-09-08
Judge Douglas, on page $50 of Harper's

/
Magazine, seeks to show by extracts from
the Decision, that 1.-THE Slavery question"
was not included by the Court in their
class of prohibited powers; and quotes sew
eral illustrations from page SO Of their De-
csion. Turning. however, to that very
page of the Official Report. we find the fol-
lowing paragraph which occurs in the mid
die of the illustrations qnoted by the Judge.
between tha, in regard to bearing arms,
and the one in reference to quarteriag sol
diers in time of peace; but which is omit
ted by Judge Douglas inhis quotation, and
the omission of which is only indicated by
( three points, thus . We quote this o.
mitted paragraph entire, from page 56 of
| the Official Report, to show that the Court
did expressly include the question of pri-
vate property in these prohibited powers:
"These powers, and others, in relation to rights
of person, which it is not necessary here to enumer
ate, are, in express and positive terms denied to
the General Governments and the rights of priuaie
property hare bren guarded nih equal care Thus
the rights of property have been united with the
rights of person. and paced on the same ground by
the fifth amendment to the Constitution, which pro-
vides that person shall be deprived oflite, ber
ty, and property without due process of law. And
an Act of Congress rach dcprresa citizen of the Uni
ted States of his liberty property, merely because
he himself or brought his property into par
ticuar Territory of the United States, and who had
committed no offence against the laws, could hard
ly be dignifed with the name of due process ofaw.
I We show now what the Court itself de-
clared was included by them in this term
property, from pages % and 5S of the
Report:
"Now, as VIC have already said in an earlier part
Of this opinion, upon different point. the right Of
property in siaDe is distinctly and expressly af
frmed in the Constitution. The right to traffic ia
it, like an ordinary article ofmerchandize and psop-
erty, was guaranteed to the citizens of the United
States in every State that ght desire it, for tven-
ty years. And the Government in express terms
is pledged protect it in all future time, the slave
escapes from his sowner. This is done in plain words
too plain to be misunderstood. And no word can
be found in the Constitution which gives Congress
greater power slave property, which enti-
ties property Of that kind to less protection than
property ofany other description. The only power
conferred is the power coupled Nth the duty guard
ing and protecting the opner in his rights.
upon these considerations it is the opinion OF
the Court that The Get Of Congress ,rhich prohibited
citizeus from orning and holding property of this kind
in the territory of the United States north OF
the line therein mentioned, is not ,rdrranted by the
Constitution, and Is therefore void"
And now. we show by two more extracts
from page 81 of the opinion of the Court,
that having prohibited the exercise of this
power by Congress, they declare in so
!. many words that Congress cannot author
izs Territorial Government, or any ofker
tribunal acting under its authority, to in.
terlere in any way with the right of prop
crty of a master in slave.
"And if Congress itself cannot do this-if it is
beyond the powers conferred on the Federal Gov
ernmcnt--it will be admitted. we presume. that Il
could not aufhori-ca TERRITORIAL Gorernmeuft 10 erer-
cise taem. Ii could confer no power on any local
Government, established by its authority TO violate
the provisions of the Constitution"
"And IL the Constitution recognizes the right oi
property of the master in a slave, and makes no dis
tnction between that descript of property, and
other property owned by citizen, Al
ACTING UNI ER THE AUTHORITY OF TIE UNITED STATES
WHETHER 1T BE- LEGISLATIVE EXECUTIVE or JUDICIAL.
has right to draw such Distinction or to deny il
the benefit of the provisions AID guarantees which
have been provided for the protection of private
property against the encroschments of the Govern
ment."
! These extracts fully substantate what
Republicans have always declared was "the
true intent and meaning" ofthe Dred Scot,
Decision; and show the iallacy of Judge
Douglass new construction of its scope.
And they show too that, to avoid the mon
strous results which he contends would
flow from decision of that character, it
must be repnaiated as the Republicans have
done. as Jefferson repudiated decision
from the same Supreme Court when they
declared the Alien and Scdition Laws con-
stitutional; and as jackson told the Bench
when they decided an u S. Bank consti-
tutional, that ''its authority must not be
permitted to control Congress or the Ex-
ecutive; for their opinion has no more au-
thority over Congress than the opinion OF
Congress has over the Judges" Never be-
foredid Thomas Jefferson s prophetic warn
ings have deeper significance or greater
weight, when he declared, in his letter to
! John Adams in 1904: ff
y '.Thc opinion that gives to the Judges the right
t. decide what laws constitutional. and what not,
not only for themselves in their sphere Of action
but for the Legislative and Executive also, in their
\ spheres. would make the Judiciary dcspotic
branch.''
And again in letter from Mr. Jefferson
to Mr.. Jarvis. Sept. 2eth. 1920. he reiter-
ates this warning in still more impressive
language. -....
sYou seem TO consider the Judges as the ulti
mate arbiters of all constitutional questions very
dangerous doctrine indeed, and ono which would
pace US under the dcspotism of an oligarchy.
The Constitution has created no such single trbu
nsl, knowing that 20 whatever hands confdcd, will
the corruptions of time and party ITS MEMBERS wor
BECOME DEsrors."
And the debates in the Convention which
framed the Constitution as reported in the
! Madison Papers. by James Madison. es-
tablish the fact that the jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court was intended to be 'limit-
ed to cases of a Judiciary nature" prov
ing the correctness Of Judge Story's decla-
ration, In his Commentaries or the Consti-
tuition:
Inmeasures exclusively ofs political, Legislative
or executive character it is plain that "a the SUI
preme authority, as to these questions belongs to
the Legislative md Executive departments, they
cannot be rc-examined elsewhere. B
i Whatever was Judge Douglass intent
this Manifesto will only convince thousands
upon thousands that in the Republican
J Principle of Oppdsision to the Extension
!, ofSlayeryis the only safety. lfonr fathers
} passed through the dark hours and bloody
conflicts of seven years war to obtain the
T power of prohibiting Slavery and Slave