[Widget Jr]

FYI, The reason why I mentioned Minor v. Happersett and Dred Scott v. Sandford is that when it comes to the NBC issue people have used both cases as if they are still current and not part of our country's legal history. There is a lot of disingenuous discussion on this issue that picks and chooses from 300 years of legal history while ignoring current laws. C'est la vie.

[woodpusher]

On Minor you are absolutely correct about its frequent use or misuse since 2008. The Record of Transcript is a copy of all the lower court proceedings which is forwarded to the Supreme Court. I have a copy of the RoT for Minor and it shows that the two parties agreed as fact that Virginia Minor was a natural born citizen. It was really a moot case, one where there was no controversy between the parties, where they conspired together to everything but whether Virginia Minor had a right to vote for President. It was then presented to the court as a single constitution question to be answered.

The case of Etheldred Scott was similar. The real owner was a Massachusetts abolitionist congressman. That hit the major newspapers in 1857. While the drawn out lower court and Sureme Court proceedings went on, Scott was rented out for labor and the wages were kept in escrow. After the case, Congressman Calvin Chaffee executed a quitclaim deed re Scott to Taylor Blow, the son of his first owner. Taylor Blow, who played with Scott as a child growing up, manumitted Scott in Missouri. And Elizabeth Irene Sanford Emerson Chaffee, the widow of the Dr. Emerson, former owner of Scott, remarried to Congressman Chaffee, claimed the wages.

In the statement of agreed facts in Scott, they stipulated that John Sanford, the brother of Elizabeth Emerson Chaffee, had purchased Scott directly from Dr. Emerson. Dr. Emerson died in 1843. The decision in Scott v. Emerson 15 Mo. 576 (1852) started, "This action was instituted by Dred Scott against Irene Emerson, the wife and administratrix of Dr. John Emerson...." The fictitous sale must have taken place well after Dr. Emerson was a corpse.

Back in that day under the law of femes covert, married women did not own property. Upon remarriage to Congressman Chaffee, the abolitionist congressman became a slave owner. This has sort of been erased in our history but was a topic in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Fourth Debate, Charleston, Illinois, September 15, 1858. CW 3:166-67.