Court opinion · 1857
In a 7–2 decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney held that Black Americans descended from enslaved Africans, whether enslaved or free, were not and could not become citizens of the United States and so could not sue in federal court. The Court further held that Congress lacked power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories and that the Missouri Compromise’s restriction was unconstitutional; Justices John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis dissented.
From the library
Sponsored by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and signed by President Franklin Pierce, the act organized the Kansas and Nebraska territories and left the question of slavery there to their settlers under the principle of “popular sovereignty.” It declared the Missouri Compromise’s prohibition of slavery north of 36°30′ “inoperative and void.”
Speaking at the Cooper Institute in New York City, Lincoln showed through detailed research that at least 21 of the 39 men who signed the Constitution — a clear majority — had acted on the understanding that the federal government could control slavery in the federal territories. He denied that Republicans were sectional radicals, rejected any link between the party and John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and urged Republicans to stand firm against the expansion of slavery.
Presented at the party’s first national convention in Philadelphia, which nominated John C. Frémont for president, the platform declared it both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories “those twin relics of barbarism — Polygamy, and Slavery.” It condemned the violence and fraud in Kansas and called for its immediate admission as a free state, supported federal aid for a Pacific railroad and river and harbor improvements, and opposed legislation impairing liberty of conscience and equality of rights among citizens.