Viewing page 17 of 41

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

9
state beyond the territorial limits of the state could have no force."

Says Chancellor Kent in the opinion cited above:

"They have never been regarded as citizens or members of our body politic within the contemplation of the constitution. They have always been and are still considered by our laws as dependent tribes, governed by their own usages and chiefs, but placed under our protection and subject to our coercion so far as the public safety requires and no farther."

It is however urged that under the provisions of the Fourteenth amendment an Indian is a citizen of the United States. The provisions cited to sustain this view are as follows "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the Jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state where they reside"

Representation shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers excluding Indians not taxed"

Sections 1 and 2 Fourteenth amendment.

Judge Coolry in his edition of Story on the constitution discussing the Fourteenth amendment expresses the opinion that: "Neither are the aboriginal inhabitants of the country citizens so long as they preserve their tribal relations and

339