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Show CIIAPTER XIII. TIJE DitED SCOTT CASE. Ext?·act from ~he orn·nion of the Court by Uhicj Just~ce Tanry; also front the opinion of Judge Daniels; and from a P enn.c;ylvania case dccla1·ing a nr>gro not a citizen. .TANEY, C. J. * * * * * 'rhc question is simply this: Can a neg-ro, whose ancc tors were imported into this eonntry, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political c~mn~unity fnrme<l n.ncl bronght into existence by tho ConstitutiOn of the United ta.tes, and as such breomo entitled to all the righlH, and privilc>~es, and irn,mnnities, guaranteed by that in. trument to the eitizcn? One of which rip:hls is the privilege of suing in a court of tho United Stales, in the cases specified in the Constitution. It will be observed, that the plea applies to that class of persons only whose ancestors were negroes of the African race, and importeLl into this country, and sold and held as slaves. The only matter in issue before the court thrreforc . ' ' IS, whether the <lcsccndants of such slaves, when they shall be <'ntn.ncipntcrl, or who nrc born of pat·ents who had become f1·ce before their birth, arc ciLizrns of a State in the sense in which the word citizen is nse <l in the Cons~itution o: the United States. And this being the only mattet· in dtspute on the pleadings, the court must be understoorl as speaking, in this opinion, of that class only; that is, of (~8R) THE DRED SCOT'l, CASE. 38D those persons who are the descendants of Africans who were imported into this country and sold as slaves. * * * * * * rrhe wonls "people of 1 he Unit<·<! Stn.Lcs" and 11 cit izrn:-~'' nrc synonymous termR, an<l mean the sarne thing. 'l'IH·y both de cri l>c the pol it ieal l,ody ·who, tH'f'Ording to <llll' republican in st itutions, form the sovereignty, and who hold the power and conduct the government th rough their representatives. They nro what we familiarly ca,JJ the " sovcreio·n b people," and every citizen is one of this people, ancl a con-stituent mcmucr of this sovereignty. '!'he question befuro us is, Whether the class of persons de. eril>ccl in the plea in abatement compose a portion of this people, and arc con-titucnt members of thi sovereignty? We think they aro not, and that they are not included, and were not intende<l to be included, under the word 11 citizens" in the Consti lution, and can t hereforc claim none of the rights and pri vilr. gcs which that instrument proviues for and secures to ciLizcns of tho Uuited States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a subordinate and inferior clnHs of beings, who had been snujngatetl by the dominant race, o.nd, whethet· emancipated or uot, yet remain subject Lo their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the government might choose to grant them. It is not the province of the court to decide upon the justice or injnstice, the policy or impoliey, of these laws. 'fhe decision of that question belonged to tlte political, or law-making power; to tho. c who formed the sovereignty and framed the Constitu Lion. The cluty of the conrt is to interpret the instrument they have fmmed, with the best lights we can obtain on the subject, and to administer it as we find it, according to its true intcut aud meaning when it was adopted. * * * * * * |