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Dred Scott was a slave. His owner took him outside the south and through states that did not allow slavery. These states had rules that any enslaved person brought into the state became free. Dred Scott sued to try to win his freedom.

The Dred Scott case had a very broad and damaging outcome. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, a negro, had no rights whatsoever. He was property, not a person or a citizen. He had no right to sue in federal court. Further, the court ruled that the federal government had no legal right to interfere with the institution of slavery. Slavery advocates were encouraged and began to make plans to expand slavery into all of the western territories and states. This created much of the tension that caused the Civil War.

Quick Facts

  • Dred Scott was a slave who lived in the free territories of Illinois and Wisconsin before moving with his owner to the slave territory of Missouri. When his owner died he sued his owner's wife for his freedom. He claimed that since he had lived so many years on "free soil" that he deserved to have his freedom.
  • Dred Scott and his family (except for his younger daughter, Lizzie) had lived for a significant time in "free" territory, which should have automatically guaranteed their right to emancipation under the "once free, always free" doctrine. Unfortunately, Scott didn't attempt to exercise this option until he and his family were living in Missouri, a slave-holding state.
  • Scott attempted to purchase his family's freedom for $300, but Irene Emerson refused the offer, so Scott sued for their freedom in court, a strategy that had worked for certain other former slaves. The first case against Irene Emerson (Scott v. Emerson,(1847) was dismissed for lack of evidence; by the time the second case was tried (Scott v. Sanford, (1857), Emerson's brother, John Sanford had assumed responsibility for his sister's legal affairs (which is why his name is on the case instead of hers).

The case citation is Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 US 393 (1857)

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11y ago

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