"We think... that they [African Americans] are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' 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... the right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution." — Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857
Taney's ruling rests most heavily on which interpretive claim?
- A
That the Tenth Amendment delegated all racial questions to the states
- B
That the Northwest Ordinance settled the question of black citizenship
- C
That the Declaration of Independence had legal force as constitutional text
- Dcheck_circle
That the framers regarded enslaved people as constitutionally protected property
Explanation
Taney argued the Constitution affirmed property rights in slaves (Fugitive Slave Clause, three-fifths clause) and that the framers never intended black citizenship. He explicitly rejected the Declaration's relevance to constitutional citizenship.