Dred Scott V. Sanford 1858

1
Dred Scott V. Sanford 1858

• Julien Mercier and Kendal Kulp

2
Background

• Dred Scott was born a slave in Missouri
• His owner, John Emerson, moved with him to
  Illinois and what is now Minnesota.
• John Emerson dies and Dred Scott sues for his
  freedom

3
First attempt

• Dred Scott first tried to buy his freedom with
  abolitionist help
• He won a suit for his freedom in a Missouri
  court against Emersons widow
• The decision was then overturned in the Missouri
  supreme court

4
New suit

• Dred Scott files a second suit in federal
  district court Mrs. Emersons brother, John
  Sanford of New York acted as her attorney
• The federal district court ruled that Scott was
  still a slave
• He appealed to the US supreme court

5
Supreme Court justices

• 5 of the justices were slave owners, another 2
  supported the south
• Chief justice Rodger B. Taney was a flaming
  racist
• The African in the United States even when free,
  are everywhere a degraded class and exercise no
  political influence. The privileges they are
  allowed to enjoy are accorded to them as a matter
  of kindness and benevolence rather than right

6
The case in SCOTUS

• Three issues- Whether Scott was a citizen,
  whether he had gained freedom by moving to free
  land, whether the Missouri Compromise applied to
  where he lived
• First ruling was that Dred Scott was not a
  citizen because he was black
• Taney went on to say that congress had no power
  to regulate slavery anyway

7
Aftermath

• Northerners decided that slavery was not nearly
  as tolerable now that congress had no power to
  regulate it
• The north feared that slavery would expand into
  all the western territories
• The case brought both the north and south to the
  point where they would be willing fight over
  slavery

8
Sources

• Primary Chief justice Robert B. Taney- Opinion
  of the court in Dred Scott, plantiff in error v.
  John F. A. Sanford March 6,1857
• Secondary Supreme court case studies by
  McGraw-hill companies, inc.
• Cozzens, L. (1999, October 31). Impact of dred
  scott. Retrieved from http//www.watson.org/lisa/
  blackhistory/scott/impact.html