Read the passage from the opinion of the court in Dred
Scott v. Sandford, written by Justice Taney.
The question before us is, whether the class of persons
described in the plea in abatement compose a portion
of this people, and are constituent members of this
sovereignty? We think they are not, and that they 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. On the contrary, they were at that
time considered as a subordinate and inferior class of
beings, who had been subjugated by the dominant
race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained
subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges
but such as those who held the power and the
Government might choose to grant them.
What fallacy can you identify and discredit to develop a
counterclaim to this claim?
O the idea that citizens have rights and privileges that
are guaranteed in the Constitution
the idea that noncitizens cannot claim certain rights
and privileges in the Constitution
O the idea that the plaintiff considers himself a citizen
and therefore has rights and privileges
O the idea that African American people are inferior
based on perceptions from an earlier time