regarded as beings of an
inferior grade--and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white
man is bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be
reduced to slavery for his (the white man's) benefit. The negro race by
common consent had been excluded from civilized governments and the family
of nations and doomed to slavery. The unhappy black race were separated
from the whites by indelible marks long before established, and were never
thought of or spoken of except as property." The Chief-Justice nullified
the Missouri restriction, by asserting that "the act of Congress, which
prohibited a citizen from holding property of this kind north of the line
therein mentioned, is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore
void." This made slavery the organic law of the land. Benton said that it
was "no longer the exception with freedom the rule, but slavery the rule,
with freedom the exception."

[Sidenote: Financial distress]

[Sidenote: Trouble with Mormons]

It was a year of financial distress in America, which recalled the hard
times of twenty years before. The United States Treasury was empty. There
had been a too rapid building of railway lines in comparatively undeveloped
regions where they could not pay expenses for years to come. Settlers did
not come so quickly as was expected, and a fall in railway shares resulted.
There was great loss, yet the country suffered less than in 1837. During
the summer the Mormons in Utah gave new trouble. Brigham Young, after Utah
was excluded from the Union, destroyed the records of the United States
courts, and practically drove Federal judges from their seats and other
officials from the Territory. The Mormons now numbered 40,000 members, and
felt strong enough to defy the government.

[Sidenote: Massacre of Mount Meadow]

In September, the Indians, believed to have been instigated by the Mormons,
massacred an immigrant train of 120 persons at Mountain Meadow in Utah.
Alfred Cumming, Superintendent of Indian Affairs on the upper Missouri,
displaced Young as Governor of Utah. Judge Eckles of Indiana was appointed
Chief-Justice of the Territory. A force of 2,500 men under Colonel A.S.
Johnston was sent to Utah to suppress interference with the laws of the
United States. On the arrival of the Federal troops in the autumn, they
were attacked, on October 6, by the Mormons, their supply trains were
destroyed, and their oxen driven off. Colonel Johns