inction between the citizen and the slave
races, and legislating in relation to them upon the same principle which
prevailed at the time of the Declaration of Independence. As relates to
these States, it is too plain for argument, that they have never been
regarded as a part of the people or citizens of the State, nor supposed
to possess any political rights which the dominant race might not
withhold or grant at their pleasure. And as long ago as 1822, the Court
of Appeals of Kentucky decided that free negroes and mulattoes were not
citizens within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States;
and the correctness of this decision is recognized, and the same
doctrine affirmed, in 1 Meig's Tenn. Reports, 331.

And if we turn to the legislation of the States where slavery had worn
out, or measures taken for its speedy abolition, we shall find the same
opinions and principles equally fixed and equally acted upon.

Thus, Massachusetts, in 1786, passed a law similar to the colonial one
of which we have spoken. The law of 1786, like the law of 1705, forbids
the marriage of any white person with any negro, Indian, or mulatto, and
inflicts a penalty of fifty pounds upon any one who shall join them in
marriage; and declares all such marriages absolutely null and void, and
degrades thus the unhappy issue of the marriage by fixing upon it the
stain of bastardy. And this mark of degradation was renewed and again
impressed upon the race, in the careful and deliberate preparation of
their revised code, published in 1836. This code forbids any person from
joining in marriage any white person with any Indian, negro, or mulatto,
and subjects the party who shall offend in this respect, to
imprisonment, not exceeding six months in the common jail, or to hard
labor, and to a fine of not less than fifty nor more than two hundred
dollars; and like the law of 1786, it declares the marriage to be
absolutely null and void. It will be seen that the punishment is
increased by the code upon the person who shall marry them, by adding
imprisonment to a pecuniary penalty.

So, too, in Connecticut. We refer more particularly to the legislation
of this State, because it was not only among the first to put an end to
slavery within its own territory, but was the first to fix a mark of
reprobation upon the African slave trade. The law last mentioned was
passed in October, 1788, about nine months after the State had ratified
and adopted the presen