At the time of the Declaration and the Constitution, they had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, unfit to associate with the white race — so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.
Next post: Justice Benjamin R. Curtis, Mar 6, 1857 →
The post above is condensed. From the original, word for word
"It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race, which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed and adopted. [...] They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit."
Between the posts · the narrator, not the paper
March 6. Taney reads from the bench for two hours. Every one of the nine justices has written an opinion; the two dissents will not be in print for days.
The most quoted sentence in the history of the Court. Read it precisely: Taney is stating what he claims the framing generation believed, not announcing his own moral view. But he is not describing it in passing — he uses that claimed 1787 consensus as the ground for holding that people of African descent were never included in the word "citizen" and so cannot sue in a federal court. The decision went further: it struck down the Missouri Compromise and held that Congress could not bar slavery from any territory.
Read it in the original — Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857) ↗