That was Dred Scott.
He should have claimed his freedom while he was on free soil.
But he was brought back into slave country, and tried to claim his freedom when his status was subject to debate.
This caused immense trouble - and arguably started the Civil War.
Since the court found against him, the case had no immediate effect. A few years later however he and his family were manumitted.
They said he was a slave, and they also said that a black man was not the sort of person who ought to be suing a white man. If Scott wanted his freedom, he should have applied for it while he was on free soil, which he was for several years. Mot people reckon that his master - an Army doctor posted to the North - should not have taken his slave with him.
It was a legal dispute about the status of a slave who had lived on free soil for a time and then returned to slave country. The courts had never dealt with this question before, and that is how it reached the Supreme Court, where the Chief Justice made his controversial statements about slavery and blacks in general.
After 10 years of appeals in a lower court, the Supreme Court decided that all people of African descent, whether slave or free, could not be US citizens, and hence couldn't sue in federal court. Another ruling outcome of this case was that the federal government had no power to prohibit slavery in its territories.In one of he worst Supreme Court rulings in history, the court decided against Scott, saying that he remained the property of his master, and that free states were obligated to abide by the laws of the slave states.
Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law and the Supreme Court upheld it in the Dred Scott Decision.
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was the slave who sued for his freedom in the Supreme Court in the landmark Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1857. The Supreme Court decision ruled against granting him his freedom and also declared that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, were not U.S. citizens.
Dred Scott sued for his freedom in the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case. The court ruled against Scott, declaring that African Americans were not citizens and therefore could not sue in federal court. This decision further inflamed tensions over slavery in the United States.
Dred Scott
The slave's name was Dred Scott
Dred Scott
Sounds like Dred Scott, the slave whose appeal for freedom controversially reached the Supreme Court. When he was eventually freed, he worked on the trains.
Since the court found against him, the case had no immediate effect. A few years later however he and his family were manumitted.
Dred Scott was the famous slave who sued to gain his freedom and was denied by the US Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857). The decision in this case is considered one of the catalysts of the US Civil War.
Amistad
Amistad
Dred Scott