John McLean

“ It is impossible, therefore, judicially, to limit their application. If it were admitted that Aspasia is the property of the plaintiff in error, and the court were to take jurisdiction of the case, under the provisions of the ordinance; must they not, on the same ground, interpose their jurisdiction in all other controversies respecting property which was acquired in the northwestern territory.
Whatever right may be claimed to have originated under the ordinance of 1787, it would seem, that a right to the involuntary service of an individual could not have had its source in that instrument. ”

“ It was stipulated in the treaty, 'that those who chose to retain their lands, and become subjects of his majesty the king of England, shall enjoy the same rights and privileges, the same security for their persons and effects, and liberty of trade, as the old subjects of the king.' The same assurance was given to the inhabitants of the country in the proclamation of General Gage in 1764. ”

“ Slaves in the northwestern territory, before and at the time of the adoption of the ordinance of 1787, were not liberated by that instrument, but continued slaves.
2. That the offspring of such slaves follow the condition of the mother, and are also slaves. To understand the nature of the right asserted by the plaintiff in error, a reference to the civil history of the Illinois country is necessary. By the treaty of peace, concluded in 1763, between England and France, the latter ceded to the former the country out of a part of which the state of Illinois was formed. ”