They perfectly understood the meaning of the language they used, and how it would be understood by others; and they knew that it would not in any part of the civilized world be supposed to embrace the negro race, which, by common consent, had been excluded from civilized Governments and the family of nations, and doomed to slavery.

Question

They perfectly understood the meaning of the language they used, and how it would be understood by others; and they knew that it would not in any part of the civilized world be supposed to embrace the negro race, which, by common consent, had been excluded from civilized Governments and the family of nations, and doomed to slavery.

–Dred Scott v. Sandford,
Supreme Court of the United States

What type of fallacy or faulty reasoning is used in this passage?

ad populum
begging the claim
genetic fallacy
hasty generalization

Answer 1

The faulty reasoning used in this passage is a genetic fallacy. The passage assumes that because the negro race had been excluded from civilized governments and the family of nations, they were therefore destined to remain enslaved.