citizenship from any who are otherwise competent
to become citizens. And as all the native born inhabitants of the
country are at least competent to become citizens of the United States,
(if they are not already such,) the state governments have no power, by
slave laws or any other, to withhold the rights of citizenship from
them.

But however clear it may be, that the constitution, in reality, made
citizens of all "the people of the United States," yet it is not
necessary to maintain that point, in order to prove that the
constitution gave no guaranty or sanction to slavery--for if it had not
already given citizenship to all, it nevertheless gave to the government
of the United States unlimited power of offering citizenship to all. The
power given to the government of passing naturalization laws, is
entirely unrestricted, except that the laws must be uniform throughout
the country. And the government have undoubted power to offer
naturalization and citizenship to every person in the country, whether
foreigner or native, who is not already a citizen. To suppose that we
have in the country three millions of native born inhabitants, not
citizens, and whom the national government has no power to make
citizens, when its power of naturalization is entirely unrestricted, is
a palpable contradiction.

But further. The constitution of the United States must be made
consistent with itself throughout; and if any of its parts are
irreconcilable with each other, those parts that are inconsistent with
liberty, justice and right, must be thrown out for inconsistency.
Besides the provisions already mentioned, there are numerous others, in
the constitution of the United States, that are entirely and
irreconcilably inconsistent with the idea that there either was, or
could be, any constitutional slavery in this country.

Among these provisions are the following:

_First._ Congress have power to lay a capitation or poll tax upon the
people of the country. Upon whom shall this tax be levied? and who must
be held responsible for its payment? Suppose a poll tax were laid upon a
man, whom the state laws should pretend to call a slave. Are the United
States under the necessity of investigating, or taking any notice of the
fact of slavery, either for the purpose of excusing the man himself from
the tax, or of throwing it upon the person claiming to be his owner?
Must the government of the United States find a man's pretended owner,
or onl