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Show 390 TilE DR~D SCOTT CASE. In the opinion of the court, the legi slation and histot·ics or the times, and the langnngc nscd in the Dce larn tinu of I ndcpcndcncc, show that neither I he ela. s of p('l' ·uns who hnfl been imported as slaves, nor tht' ir desrcn darlls, wht'thet· tiH·y h:t<l Lccome free or nol, were th en acknnwl('dgcd as a pmt or the people, nor in tcncl('d to be incl ttdcd in the g('llcral words used irt that mcntorable in sLrn ment. It is diflleult at thi~ day to rcnlizo the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race, wllieh prevailed. in the civiliz;cd and enlightened porLiom; of the world at the time of the Declaration of Iudcpeutl cncc, nud when the Constitution of the United Slates wn., framed and adopted. ~3 t~t the public histo r~ of every European nation displays It m a manner too plarn to be mistaken. 'rhcy had for more than a ce ntury befo re been rco·nr<.lcd /':') as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to as. 0 _ ciatc with the white race, either jn social or political rcln.tious ; and so fa.r inferior, ilmt they ]tad no rights wllich the white man was bound to respect ; and that Lhc negro might justly and lawfully be red uccd to slavery for his benefit. lie was bought and sold, and treated ns an ordinary article of merchandise and traffi c, whenever a profit could be made by it. This opinion was at that time fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race. It wa.~ regarded ns an axiom in moral· us well ns in politics, whreh no one thought of disputing, or suvposcd to be open to .dispute; a~d men in every grade and position in society daily and h~b1tually acted upon it in their pri vate pnr. ni ts, as well as ll1 matters of public conccm, wi thout do uuLing for a moment the correctness of thi s opinion. And in no nation was this opini on more firmly fixed or more uniformly acted upon than by the Buglisb government and English people. They not only seized them on tho ~oast ?f Africa, and solu tltem ot· held them in slavery fur thCir own usc; but they took them as ordinary articles THE DRED SCOTT CABE. 391 f erchandiAc to every conntry where they coul<l make a o m . .1 • profit 0 11 them, aHd even far rn o ~·c c: len.·,Lvcly. np;n.gcu 1n tl · comm ' rce Limn n.ny other nn.Ltot• Ill the wotld. l iTS he opinion th us cn terLai11Cd u.nll act~d upou ·L ~l J~~ tt g 1n nel wn.s ua t u1... -,lly iut J>r<·• s·s c<l II})Oil the coluHH'H they founded on this Ride of the Atlan tic. Au<l acenrdin gly~ a negro of the Afr ican ra<'c wm; rc~ardcd by Lhcm as an arLH;lc of property, aud held, und boughL, and so ld n.s such in every one of the thirt.ccu co lonies which unitetl in the Dcclnra.tion of In dependence, aml uJtenvardl:l formed the Constitu tion of tho United States. rrhc ~lavcl:l were more or less numerous m the d i [cre n~ coloni es, al:l slave lauoL' was found more or· less )rofltable. But no oue . cems to have doubled the ~o rrc.ct~ ess of the prevailing opin ion of the time. 'rhc Icgtslutron of the different colouics furni .. hcd po ·itivc a11d inclisputaiJle proof of this fn.cL. It would be tc<lious, in th is opinion, to enumerate tho va-rious laws Lltcy passed upon tl ti:l subject. It will IJc sufficient as a sa111 ple or the lcg;il'l laLion 'rvhich then p;cncmlly prcv~ilod throtwhout the Bri ti ·It colonic ·, to gi ve the lu.ws f two of them 0 one being still a large ,·\avcholding State, 0 I • and the other the first State in which sllLvcry ceased to e>.'lst. 'rho Province of Maryland, iu J 717, (ch. 13, s. 5,) passed a l<"~ W dec1arin orr "that if uny free negro or mulatto inter- 1 · mnrry with any white woman, or any whiLe nHtn shal mtcr-mo. rry with any negro or mulatto woman, snch. negro or mulatto shall become a slave during life, cxcopt rng mnlutloes born of white women, who, for such intermarriage, shall on1y become scrvantH for seven years, to be disposo.d of as the justices of the county conrt, where such mn.rnagc · 0 happens, shall th ink fi t, to he appli ed by them town.rd;h~ support of a public school within tho suid coun ty. IH any whi tc man or w1 u · t e woman, w1 10 sllt11l int.e rmarry asr aforesaid with any negro or mulatto, such wlutc man ° white wo~an shall become a s rvant for or during Lhe term |