But I am doing no such thing as that; all that I am doing
is refusing to obey it as a political rule. If I were in Congress, and a
vote should come up on a question whether slavery should be prohibited
in a new Territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, I would vote
that it should.
That is what I would do. Judge Douglas said last night that before the
decision he might advance his opinion, and it might be contrary to the
decision when it was made; but after it was made he would abide by it
until it was reversed. Just so! We let this property abide by the
decision, but we will try to reverse that decision. We will try to put
it where Judge Douglas would not object, for he says he will obey it
until it is reversed. Somebody has to reverse that decision, since it is
made; and we mean to reverse it, and we mean to do it peaceably.
What are the uses of decisions of courts? They have two uses. First,
they decide upon the question before the court. They decide in this case
that Dred Scott is a slave. Nobody resists that. Not only that, but they
say to everybody else that persons standing just as Dred Scott stands
are as he is.
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