Dred Scott v. Sandford/Footnotes

[ Footnote 1 ] Vide Gibbons's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London edition of 1825, vol. 3d, chap. 44, p. 183.

[ Footnote 2 ] Letter from James Madison to Robert Walsh, November 27th, 1819, on the subject of the Missouri Compromise.

[ Footnote 3 ] Mr. Varnum said: 'The bill provided such a Government as had never been known in the United States.' Mr. Eustis: 'The Government laid down in this bill is certainly a new thing in the United States.' Mr. Lucas: 'It has been remarked, that this bill establishes elementary principles never previously introduced in the Government of any Territory of the United States. Granting the truth of this observation,' &c., &c. Mr. Macon: 'My first objection to the principle contained in this section is, that it establishes a species of government unknown to the United States.' Mr. Boyle: 'Were the President an angel instead of a man, I would not clothe him with this power.' Mr. G. W. Campbell: 'On examining the section, it will appear that it really establishes a complete despotism.' Mr. Sloan: 'Can anything be more repugnant to the principles of just government? Can anything be more despotic?'-Annals of Congress, 1803-'4.

[ Footnote 4 ] Mr. Jefferson wrote: 'The Missouri question is the most portentous one that ever threatened our Union. In the gloomiest moments of the revolutionary war, I never had any apprehension equal to that I feel from this source.'

[ Footnote 5 ] Note by Mr. Justice Curtis. This statement that some territory did actually pass by this cession, is taken from the opinion of the court, delivered by Mr. Justice Wayne, in the case of Howard v. Ingersoll, reported in 13 How., 405. It is an obscure matter, and, on some examination of it, I have been led to doubt whether any territory actually passed by this cession. But as the fact is not important to the argument, I have not thought it necessary further to investigate it.

[ Footnote 6 ] It was published in a newspaper at Philadelphia, in May, and a copy of it was sent by R. H. Lee to Gen. Washington, on the 15th of July. (See p. 261, Cor. of Am. Rev., vol. 4, and Writings of Washington, vol. 9, p. 174.)