Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1863-01-02
Are coIore1 NON lbI.Iaensl


A very important decision has just been made
BY Attorney General Bates. Upon the quession
Of citizenship ofcoiorsd citisens. The facts up
on which tits based are ns fOilows;F q ~ rs
aThe schooner Elizabeth and Margaret, Of
cutter OF Perth Amboy, N. j., because COM
manded BY colored man, and 20 BY person
not a citizen of the United 8faiess Az colorsd
| masters are numerous in our ccasting-trade
submit you the question suggested BY Capt.
| Martin Of the Tiger, Are eolofed men citizens
Of the States, and therefore competept to eoni-
rand American vesselsT . rN st,f
The points made in the opinion, are the fol-
lowing: The Constitution does not de6as the
word @citizen,p 80 the Attorney General exam
ines history and the civil law, from the days Of
Rome down. for its meaning Hisconclusion Is
that all free persons without distinction Of race
or color, II native born, arc citizens. A distine
ton is made between the inherent rights Of citi-
zens and the political privileges Of certain clas-
ses. Ali citizens have right 10 protection, but
only certain classes enjoy the privileges Of voting
aud holding office. hiiserto, not only the pub
lie but jursts have often cenfounded the two
child or woman is citizen, though not al
ways privileged TO vote or hold Office. Tho
Dred Scott opinions are pronounced void and Of
no authority since the province Of the Supreme
Court was only to settle the question of the jur-
isdiction of the Cirsuit Court They are sim
ply entitled to the respect due to the views Of
eminent gentlemen, and no more. The papers
conclude as follows:
| "And now, upon the whole matter give il
as my opinion that the free man Of color mem
toned in your letter, If born in the United
States, is citizen of the United States, and, IL
otherwise qualified is competent, according to
the acts of Congress, TO be master of vessele en-
gagged in the coasting trade.
The opinion Of Attorney General Bates, affirm
atory of the citizenship Of freemen ofcolor, born
in the United States is accounted altogether
the ablest as it is the most important legal pa
ties ofhis office. After stating his own conclu-
sions, he examines three authorities usually cit
ed in opposition. The opinion of Attorney Gen.
eral Writ of November 7th 1921 upon case
precisely like the present, except that tho OBJ.
jections raised were founded upon Virginia law,
and the decision is confined to free persons of
color in Virginia who are determined not to be
citizens Of the United States, is examined at
some length, and it is shown that the opinion,
as on the authority rebutted by the opinion of
Attorney General Legare, March Is, IS43, to
the effect that under act of Congress limiting
the pre-emption of land to citizens of the Uni
ted States and aliens who had declared their in
tention to become citizens, free colored man is
competent to pre-empt land. Secretary Marcy's
decision, November 4, 1856, refusing passports
TO free blacks on the ground that they are not
citizens is next cited. Mr.. Bates concludes that
Mr. Marcy qualities this broad statement so far
as to leave doubt as to his practical opinion, and
the certificates which he offers to give, to the
effect that the bearer full natural born in
habitant of the United States, is virtually pass
port The case of the State of Tennessee VS..
Ambrose, in which it was adudged that q free
black could not be citizen of Kentucky, Is next
examined at length, and it is shown that the
opinion of the court rests, if upon any bases at
all, on the false presumption that under the
Constitution grades and classes of citizens are
known Finally, the Attorney General takes
up the bred Scott case. After quoting the plea
in abolishment, showing that the decision was
and should have been strictly confined to that,
he says: 7eii
taking the plea there strictly as it is written
the persons who are excluded by this Judgment
from being citizens Of Missouri, must be negroes,
not mulattoes. nor mestizos, nor quadrons. They
must be of African descent, not Asiastic, even
though they come of the blackest Malays in
southeastern Asia. They must have had ances-
tors, yet that may be doubtful if born in Slavery
of putative parents, who were slaves, and being
slaves, incapable ofcontracting matrmony, and
therefore every child must needs be bastard,
and so by the common law nullts .flius, and in
capable of ancestors. His ancestors, il he had
any, must have been of pure African blood, not
mixed with the tawny Moor of Morocco, or the
dusky Arab of the desert, both of whom had
their origin in Asia. They must have been bro't
to this country, not come voluntarily and sold
not kept by the importer for his own use, nor
given TO his friends
"ln this argument l raise no question upon
the legal validity Of the Judgment in Scott VS.
Sanford, and only insist that the judgement in
that case is limited in law as in fact; limited on
the face of the record to plea in abatement and
consequently that whatever was said in the long
course Of the case, reported, respecting The le
gal merits of the mere fact of color, though en-
titled to all the respect which is due to the learn
ed and upright sources from which opinions
come, was outside Of the record, and of no au-
thority as ajudicial decision" 80