y the man himself, before they can tax him? Clearly the United
States are not bound to tax any one but the individual himself, or to
hold any other person responsible for the tax. Any other principle would
enable the state governments to defeat any tax of this kind levied by
the United States. Yet a man's liability to be held personally
responsible for the payment of a tax, levied upon himself by the
government of the United States, is inconsistent with the idea that the
government is bound to recognize him as not having the ownership of his
own person.

_Second._ "The congress shall have power to regulate commerce with
foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian
tribes."

This power is held, by the supreme court of the United States, to be an
exclusive one in the general government; and it obviously must be so, to
be effectual--for if the states could also interfere to regulate it, the
states could at pleasure defeat the regulations of congress.

Congress, then, having the exclusive power of regulating this commerce,
they only (if any body) can say who may, and who may not, carry it on;
and probably even they have no power to discriminate arbitrarily between
individuals.--But, in no event, have the _state_ governments any right
to say who may, or who may not, carry on "commerce with foreign
nations," or "among the several states," or "with the Indian tribes."
Every individual--naturally competent to make contracts--whom the state
laws declare to be a slave, probably has, and certainly may have, under
the regulations of congress, as perfect a right to carry on "commerce
with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian
tribes," as any other citizen of the United States can have--"any thing
in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary
notwithstanding." Yet this right of carrying on commerce is a right
entirely inconsistent with the idea of a man's being a slave.

Again. It is a principle of law that the right of traffic is a natural
right, and that all commerce (that is intrinsically innocent) is
therefore lawful, except what is prohibited by positive legislation.
Traffic with the slaves, either by people of foreign nations, or by
people belonging to other states than the slaves, has never (so far as I
know) been prohibited by congress, which is the only government, (if
any,) that has power to prohibit it. Traffic with the slaves is
therefore as lawful