And even as late as 1820, (chap. 104, sec. 8,) in the charter to the
city of Washington, the corporation is authorized "to restrain and
prohibit the nightly and other disorderly meetings of slaves, free
negroes, and mulattoes," thus associating them together in its
legislation; and after prescribing the punishment that may be
inflicted on the slaves, proceeds in the following words: "And to
punish such free negroes and mulattoes by penalties not exceeding
twenty dollars for any one offence; and in case of the inability of
any such free negro or mulatto to pay any such penalty and cost
thereon, to cause him or her to be confined to labor for any time not
exceeding six calendar months." And in a subsequent part of the same
section, the act authorizes the corporation "to prescribe the terms
and conditions upon which free negroes and mulattoes may reside in the
city."

This law, like the laws of the States, shows that this class of
persons were governed by special legislation directed expressly to
them, and always connected with provisions for the government of
slaves, and not with those for the government of free white citizens.
And after such an uniform course of legislation as we have stated, by
the colonies, by the States, and by Congress, running through a period
of more than a century, it would seem that to call persons thus marked
and stigmatized, "citizens" of the United States, "fellow-citizens," a
constituent part of the sovereignty, would be an abuse of terms, and
not calculated to exalt the character of an American citizen in the
eyes of other nations.

The conduct of the Executive Department of the Government has been in
perfect harmony upon this subject with this course of legislation. The
question was brought officially before the late William Wirt, when he
was the Attorney General of the United States, in 1821, and he decided
that the words "citizens of the United States" were used in the acts
of Congress in the same sense as in the Constitution; and that free
persons of color were not citizens, within the meaning of the
Constitution and laws; and this opinion has been confirmed by that of
the late Attorney General, Caleb Cushing, in a recent case, and acted
upon by the Secretary of State, who refused to grant passports to them
as "citizens of the United States."

But it is said that a person may be a citizen, and entitled to that
character, although he does not possess all the rights which may
belong