It is the obvious import of the law that none of the persons thus taken should remain within the United States, and no place other than the coast of Africa being designated, their removal or delivery, whether carried from the United States or landed immediately from the vessels in which they were taken, was supposed to be confined to that coast.
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It is to mitigate these evils in future wars, and even for the higher purpose of preventing war itself, that the decision was formed to make the coast, so far as it might be practicable, impregnable.
According to my judgment it cannot be derived from either of those powers, nor from all of them united, and in consequence it does not exist.
I am of opinion that Congress do not possess this power; that the States individually cannot grant it.
In executing this very delicate and important trust I acted with the utmost precaution.
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