Page:A legal review of the case of Dred Scott, as decided by the Supreme Court of the United States.djvu/17

 electors in such manner as the State legislatures may appoint. The only instances, in which the Constitution speaks of "a citizen of the United States," are in fixing the qualifications of federal officers—representatives, senators, and president—where that expression is peculiarly appropriate.

With regard to the right of the States, since the adoption of the federal Constitution, to confer citizenship, we have a single remark to make upon the position of each of the two learned judges. The effect of the Chief Justice's doctrine that the States may make citizens who shall not be citizens of the United States, is, that members of congress, and even the president of the United States, may be chosen by persons not citizens of the United States. If, on the other hand, the power of the States be limited, as Mr. Justice Curtis suggests, to persons either born on their soil or citizens of other States, then no one, white or black, not recognized as a citizen in his native State, can ever become a citizen of any other State or of the United States; and this conclusion can hardly be correct without the additional limitation, that even a citizen of one State, who changes his permanent residence to another, loses all rights of citizenship; for the right of the State into which he comes to adopt him as a member, must depend upon the extent of its own power, and not upon his condition while subject to another sovereignty.

The position, that free negroes may sue in the courts of the United States, would seem to be sufficiently established by showing that they are now citizens of some of the States; and that they are so is admitted by the Chief Justice himself. But, for the purposes of this discussion, we are willing to rest their rights, in this respect, upon the proposition that they were a part of the people of the United States when the Constitution was adopted; and if they were admitted to be such in any part of the country at that time, the argument of the Chief Justice is fully answered. That they were so is as clear as any fact of history.

The State of Massachusetts, being one of the oldest, and at that time one of the most populous and important of the original thirteen, is chosen as an example by the Chief Justice. The Constitution of Massachusetts was formed during the Revolutionary War, and several years before that of the United States. It contains numerous passages which clearly show that it is intended for all inhabitants without exception—for all who were subjects of Great Britain. It uses the words "people," "citizens,"