had designated its
own citizens, it had undeniably designated the whole people of the then
United States as such; and that, as a state could not enslave a citizen
of the United States, (on account of the supremacy of the constitution
of the United States,) it would follow that there could be no
constitutional slavery in the United States.

Again. If the constitution was established by authority of all "the
people of the United States," they were all legally parties to it, and
citizens under it. And if they were parties to it, and citizens under
it, it follows that neither they, _nor their posterity_, nor any nor
either of them, can ever be legally enslaved within the territory of the
United States; for the constitution declares its object to be, among
other things, "to secure the blessings of liberty to _ourselves, and our
posterity_." This purpose of the national constitution is a law
paramount to all state constitutions; for it is declared that "this
constitution, and the laws of the United States that shall be made in
pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made under
the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the
land; and the judges _in every state_ shall be bound thereby, any thing
in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary
notwithstanding."

No one, I suppose, doubts that if the state governments were to abolish
slavery, the slaves would then, without further legislation, become
citizens of the United States. Yet, in reality, if they would become
citizens then, they are equally citizens now--else it would follow that
the state governments had an arbitrary power of making citizens of the
United States; or--what is equally absurd--it would follow that
disabilities, arbitrarily imposed by the state governments, upon native
inhabitants of the country, were, of themselves, sufficient to deprive
such inhabitants of their citizenship, which would otherwise have been
conferred upon them by the constitution of the United States. To suppose
that the state governments are thus able, arbitrarily, to keep in
abeyance, or arbitrarily to withhold from any of the inhabitants of the
country, any of the benefits or rights which the national constitution
intended to confer upon them, would be to suppose that the state
constitutions were paramount to the national one. The conclusion,
therefore, is inevitable, that the state governments have no power to
withhold the rights of