Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-10-17
HILL AND THE DRED SCOTT
DECISION.

HILL AND THE DRED SCOTT
DECISION.
Ex-Governor Hill Of New York has
resurrected the famous Dred Scott de-
cision In a strained effort to show that
the United States Supreme Court under
President Buchanan's administration
gives its opinion against territorial ex-
pansion. 1t is presumed that Mr.. Hill
knows the whole purpose Of the demo-
cratic slave-hOlders' supreme court that
rendered the Dred Scot decision was in
the interest Of human slavery. The
whole purpose was to rule that the ne
gro had no standing in the courts as q
citizen. That he had no standing eX-
cept as piece Of property such as a
mule or horse, and he could not sue or
be sued in the courts any more than q
mule or horse can sue. His standing
was that Of property standing to be
dealt in and disposed OF by the owners
Of such property. All questions but
the standing OF the negro in the
courts Of the country was literary
and learned filling for appearance sake
in the opinion. Stripped Of all literary
establishment and effort at display Of
learning on the question Of territorial
expansion and the government of ter
ritories acquired by treaty or by force
Of arms the case stands thus:
bred Scott was a slave in Missouri
and he was taken by his master an
army surgeon into the free state OF Illi-
nois and into the free territory Of Min
Upon his return he conceived the idea
Of trying for his freedom in the courts.
He declared that by his long residence
in the free state Of Illinois and the free
territory OF Minnesota he was entitled
to his freedom. For making that dec
laration he Was tied to post and mer-
-cilessly whipped. He found a lawyer
who had the courage to bring a suit
against his master for assault and bat
terry. The case went up from one court
to another into the Supreme Court of
the United States and when it was
handed down the decision was:
"Dred Scott is a slave, not citizen
of the United States and therefore can
not sue IN the courts"
The decision was handed down q few
days before the election of Mr.. Buchan-
an to the presidency, but it was not
made known to the general public till a
few days after Mr.. Buchanan's inaug-
uration. The whole purpose was to put
the negro on a property basis on the
records of the democratic Supreme
Court just as horses and cattle and hogs
are considered and sold at private sale
and at public sale to the highest and
best bidder. BY the Dred Scott decision
q negro had not more standing in court
than hog. The owner Of a hog could
sue for the value Of the hog il deprived
OF the swine. The owner Of the negro
could sue for the value Of the negro il
deprived Of the negro. Such is the
point in the bred Scott decision of the
democratic shareholders United States
Supreme court of the time Of President
Buchanan's administration, and when
Mr.. Hill of New York tries to warp the
decision to some other purposs, he shows
that he either does not understand what
the decision was for or he distorts the
decision to purpose best known to
himself. The Dred Scott decision went
down with Mr.. Buchanan's admins.
tration and rebellion and is no more ap.
plicable in these times than the fugitive
slave laws under which the slave-hold
ers Of the south came into the north tc
catch and return to slavery such runa.
ways that they might trace into the
free states. 1t is within the memory Of
living men and women that the slave
master came into Miff1intown to catch
and return to slavery slaves that had
come as far north as Miffiintown
In q recent conversation on this point
with Captain Cornelius Mcclellan, he
said, "YOu remember Samuel McWil.
liams when he kept hotel on the corner
where the Juniata National Bank is 10
Gated. McWilliams had negro
woman employed in the hotel in the
dining room. One day she hastened to
the landlady and said excitedly,
"NIissus, rs guin to go, my old Vrr.
gInia Massa has come for me, l heard
his voice in the bar rocm." She gather
ed her bundle and fed from the place
by the backyard and never returned.