ree negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in the
State, under any pretext whatever." One ground of objection to the
admission of the State under this Constitution was, that it would
require the Legislature to exclude free persons of color, who would be
entitled, under the second section of the fourth article of the
Constitution, not only to come within the State, but to enjoy there
the privileges and immunities of citizens. The resolution of Congress
admitting the State was upon the fundamental condition, "that the
Constitution of Missouri shall never be construed to authorize the
passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity
thereto, by which any citizen of either of the States of this Union
shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and
immunities to which such citizen is entitled under the Constitution of
the United States." It is true, that neither this legislative
declaration, nor anything in the Constitution or laws of Missouri,
could confer or take away any privilege or immunity granted by the
Constitution. But it is also true, that it expresses the then
conviction of the legislative power of the United States, that free
negroes, as citizens of some of the States, might be entitled to the
privileges and immunities of citizens in all the States.

The conclusions at which I have arrived on this part of the case are:

_First._ That the free native-born citizens of each State are citizens
of the United States.

_Second._ That as free colored persons born within some of the States
are citizens of those States, such persons are also citizens of the
United States.

_Third._ That every such citizen, residing in any State, has the right
to sue and is liable to be sued in the Federal courts, as a citizen of
that State in which he resides.

_Fourth._ That as the plea to the jurisdiction in this case shows no
facts, except that the plaintiff was of African descent, and his
ancestors were sold as slaves, and as these facts are not inconsistent
with his citizenship of the United States, and his residence in the
State of Missouri, the plea to the jurisdiction was bad, and the
judgment of the Circuit Court overruling it was correct.

I dissent, therefore, from that part of the opinion of the majority of
the court, in which it is held that a person of African descent cannot
be a citizen of the United States; and I regret I must go further, and
dissent both from what I deem