change
took place in the laws of North Carolina than was consequent on the
transition from a colony dependent on a European King, to a free and
sovereign State. Slaves remained slaves. British subjects in North
Carolina became North Carolina freemen. Foreigners, until made members
of the State, remained aliens. Slaves, manumitted here, became
freemen, and therefore, if born within North Carolina, are citizens of
North Carolina, and all free persons born within the State are born
citizens of the State. The Constitution extended the elective
franchise to every freeman who had arrived at the age of twenty-one,
and paid a public tax; and it is a matter of universal notoriety,
that, under it, free persons, without regard to color, claimed and
exercised the franchise, until it was taken from free men of color a
few years since by our amended Constitution."

In the State _v._ Newcomb, (5 Iredell's R., 253,) decided in 1844, the
same court referred to this case of the State _v._ Manuel, and said:
"That case underwent a very laborious investigation, both by the bar
and the bench. The case was brought here by appeal, and was felt to be
one of great importance in principle. It was considered with an
anxiety and care worthy of the principle involved, and which give it a
controlling influence and authority on all questions of a similar
character."

An argument from speculative premises, however well chosen, that the
then state of opinion in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was not
consistent with the natural rights of people of color who were born on
that soil, and that they were not, by the Constitution of 1780 of that
State, admitted to the condition of citizens, would be received with
surprise by the people of that State, who know their own political
history. It is true, beyond all controversy, that persons of color,
descended from African slaves, were by that Constitution made citizens
of the State; and such of them as have had the necessary
qualifications, have held and exercised the elective franchise, as
citizens, from that time to the present. (See Com. _v._ Aves, 18 Pick.
R., 210.)

The Constitution of New Hampshire conferred the elective franchise
upon "every inhabitant of the State having the necessary
qualifications," of which color or descent was not one.

The Constitution of New York gave the right to vote to "every male
inhabitant, who shall have resided," &c.; making no discrimination
between free colored pers