Taney

[DAVID E. BERNSTEIN]

If Taney was right, why didn't the Framers say somewhere that only white
Americans may benefit from the protections of the Constitution and the
government it established?  Certainly, Congress in 1790 was sufficiently
aware of the issue to limit naturalization to whites, so it wasn't like
folks then had any hesitation about making race-based distinctions.  I'm
not questioning whether most whites wanted blacks to have rights, only
whether their attitudes were actually put into the Constitution.  One
can read and re-read the Constitution and not see any explicit or
implicit statement that free men of color are second-class, much less
non, citizens.

David E. Bernstein
Associate Professor
George Mason University
School of Law
3401 N. Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 993-8089
dbernste at wpgate.gmu.edu
<http://members.aol.com/deliotb/home.html>