_Possibly_, this is a mere omission;
but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into
the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to
exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get
such declaration, in behalf of the people of a Territory, into the
Nebraska Bill--I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been
voted down in the one case as it had been in the other?
The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over
slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using
the precise idea, and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska Act. On
one occasion, his exact language is, "Except in cases where the power is
restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the
State is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction."
In what cases the power of the States is so restrained by the United
States Constitution is left an open question, precisely as the same
question, as to the restraint on the power of the Territories, was left
open in the Nebraska Act.
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