The Supreme Court held that Dred Scott (a freed slave) was not a citizen and not entitled to sue in federal court. The Chief Justice that wrote the opinion said that Black people could never be US citizens because of their race.
This infuriated the abolitionists who believed slavery was immoral and illegal. There was nothing the abolitionists could do to alter the Court's decision.
The Abolitionists (those who opposed slavery and wanted it outlawed) were outraged at the Supreme Court's decision that slavery was protected by the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, and also by their suggestion that African-Americans had no right of citizenship or access to the courts.
Abolitionists objected to the Supreme Court decision for a number of reasons:
Case Citation:
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 US 393 (1857)
The Dred Scott ruling (1857) said that no African slave descendant could be a US citizen, and that slaves were property, not persons with their own rights. This directly conflicted with the priniciple of freedom that the abolitionists saw in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal"). It was not until the 14th Amendment (1865) that slavery was constitutionally outlawed, after the South had been defeated in the Civil War.
Abolitionists were strongly opposed to the US Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case. The abolitionist movement was to abolish slavery and the Court basically declared that slaves were property. Not a good sign for all anti-slavery people. However, despite all the negatives that went written down in the decision, the abolitionists always had hope. Their hope was based on the amendment process outlined in the Constitution itself. As was seen after the US Civil War, three amendments changed the law and slavery was abolished in December of 1865 by the 13th Amendment.
People had to vote if they wanted slavery or not.
What was the effect of the Supreme Court's decision in Loving v. Virginia
majority opinion
By issuing a judicial review.
Judicial Review
Dissent
Dissent
no one knows
Dissent
Dissent
Dissent
Dissent
other courts use the decision as a guideline when they rule on similar cases