become a member of
the political community formed and brought into existence by the
Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to
all the rights and privileges and immunities guaranteed by that
instrument to the citizen? One of which rights is the privilege
of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified
in the Constitution.

"It will be observed that the plea applies to that class of
persons only whose ancestors were negroes of the African race,
and imported into this country, and sold and held as slaves. The
only matter in issue before the court, therefore, is, whether the
descendants of such slaves, when they shall be emancipated, or
who are born of parents who had become free before their birth,
are citizens of a State, in the sense in which the word citizen
is used in the Constitution of the United States. And this being
the only matter in dispute on the pleadings, the court must be
understood as speaking in this opinion of that class only, that
is, of those persons who are the descendants of Africans who were
imported into this country and sold as slaves.

* * * * *

"We proceed to examine the case as presented by the pleadings.

"The words 'people of the United States' and 'citizens' are
synonymous terms, and mean the same thing. They both describe the
political body who, according to our republican institutions,
form the sovereignty, and who hold the power and conduct the
government through their representatives. They are what we
familiarly call the 'sovereign people, and every citizen is one
of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty. The
question before us is, whether the class of persons described in
the plea in abatement compose a portion of this people, and are
constituent members of this sovereignty. We think they are not,
and that they are not included, and were not intended to be
included, under the word 'citizen' in the Constitution, and can
therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that
instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United
States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a
subordinate [405] and inferior class of beings, who had been
subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether ema