heir statutes declaring that the
children of slaves shall follow the condition of their mothers, are
void; and those children are free by force of the law of nature.

This law of nature, that all men are born free, was recognized by this
country in the Declaration of Independence.--But it was no new principle
then. Justinian says, "Captivity and servitude are both contrary to the
law of nature; for by that law all men are born free." But the principle
was not new with Justinian; it exists in the nature of man, and is as
old as man--and the race of man generally has acknowledged it. The
exceptions have been special; the rule general.

The constitution of the United States recognizes the principle that all
men are born free; for it recognizes the principle that natural birth in
the country gives citizenship[31]--which of course implies freedom. And
no exception is made to the rule. Of course all born in the country
since the adoption of the constitution of the United States, have been
born free, whether there were, or were not any legal slaves in the
country before that time.

Even the provisions, in the several state constitutions, that the
legislatures shall not _emancipate_ slaves, would, if allowed their full
effect, unrestrained by the constitution of the United States, hold in
slavery only those who were then slaves; it would do nothing towards
enslaving their children, and would give the legislatures no authority
to enslave them.

It is clear, therefore, that, on this principle alone, slavery would now
be extinct in this country, unless there should be an exception of a few
aged persons.

[Footnote 31: Art. 2, Sec. 1, Clause 5, "No person, except a _natural
born_ citizen,* * * * shall be eligible to the office of President."]

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Unconstitutionality of Slavery, by
Lysander Spooner

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