differed, and the case
was twice argued. The decision nullified the Missouri restriction,
or, indeed, any restriction by Congress on slavery in the Territories.
Chief-Justice Taney said:

"The question is whether the class of persons (negroes) compose a
portion of the people, and are constituent members of this sovereignty.
We think they are not included under the word 'citizen' in the
Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and
privileges of that instrument."

Negroes, as a race, were at that time considered as a subordinate
and inferior class who had been subjugated by the dominant whites,
and had no rights or privileges except such as those who held the
power and the government might choose to grant them. They had for
more than a century been regarded as beings of an inferior grade--
so far inferior that they possessed no rights which the white man
was bound to respect; and the negro might justly and lawfully be
reduced to slavery for his (the white man's) benefit. The negro
race by common consent had been excluded from civilized governments
and the family of nations, and doomed to slavery. The unhappy
black race was separated from the whites by indelible marks long
before established, and was never thought of or spoken of except
as property.

The Chief-Justice further annulled the Missouri restriction, by
asserting that "the act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from
holding property of this kind north of the line therein mentioned
is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore void."
Benton said that it was "no longer the exception, with freedom the
rule; but slavery was the rule, with freedom the exception."

It was a year of financial distress in America, which recalled the
hard times of twenty years before. The United States treasury was
empty.

Early in this year (1856) a Legislature had met at Topeka, Kansas,
and was immediately dissolved by the United States marshals. A
Territorial Legislature also met at Lecompton and provided for a
State Constitution. The people of Kansas utterly refused to
recognize the latter body which had been chosen by the Missouri
invaders, and both parties continued to hold their elections.

Thus it may be seen that these episodes were the culmination of a
long series of events leading to a new alignment of the country's
political forces. The Republican party was the child of this
ferment of unrest. The formation of a new political part