who declared their independence,
and assumed the powers of Government to defend their rights by force of
arms.

In the opinion of the court, the legislation and histories of the times,
and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show, that
neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their
descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged
as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general
words used in that memorable instrument.

It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public opinion in
relation to that unfortunate race, which prevailed in the civilized and
enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of
Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed
and adopted. But the public history of every European nation displays it
in a manner too plain to be mistaken.

They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an
inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race,
either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they
had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the
negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.
He was bought and sold, and treated as an ordinary article of
merchandise and traffic, 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 was regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in
politics, which no one thought of disputing, or supposed to be open to
dispute; and men in every grade and position in society daily and
habitually acted upon it in their private pursuits, as well as in
matters of public concern, without doubting for a moment the correctness
of this opinion.

And in no nation was this opinion more firmly fixed or more uniformly
acted upon than by the English Government and English people. They not
only seized them on the coast of Africa, and sold them or held them in
slavery for their own use; but they took them as ordinary articles of
merchandise to every country where they could make a profit on them, and
were far more extensively engaged in this commerce, than any other
nation in the world.

The opinion thus entertained and acted upon in England was naturally
impressed upon the colonies they founded on this side of the Atlantic.
And, accordingly, a negro of the African race was