Dred Scott stated that because he was a slave who traveled to territories which did not permit slavery, he was freed from his owner. The Supreme Court ruled that just because he was present in territories which did not permit slavery, it did not mean that he was no longer a slave because that would violate the federal Constitution by interfering in another man's property (as a slave, he was the property of his owner). The Supreme Court stated that Dred Scott was nothing more than the property of his owner, and that he did not have any political rights, not even the right to the very trial he started.
From this preliminary ruling, an even bigger ruling was made in response to this reasoning. Because the government did not have to right to interfere in a mans property, a territory thus could not declare slavery illegal because that would violate property rights.
Because of this, the Missouri Compromise and Popular Sovereignty were thus invalid. Slavery was open to all territories. While the Missouri Compromise restricted slavery to lands south of the 39th parallel, the Dred Scott decision declared the Act unconstitutional and all territories in the United States, north and south, were open to slavery. Popular Sovereignty, a principle which stated that a territory could stage a vote where the people decided whether or not slavery would be legal, was also declared unconstitutional because the territory could not interfere with property right and make slavery illegal.
Basically, the Dred Scott Decision opened slavery to all territories and said that slaves would always be considered property of their owners and nothing more.
the decision made slavery legal in all us territories that were not yet states
No but the supreme court made it invalid with the Dred Scot decision
The Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case declared that slaves were not citizens, so they had no rights under the Constitution and no legal standing in court. It also ruled that Congress had no power to ban slavery in the territories, essentially allowing for the expansion of slavery into new regions.
The decision made slavery legal in all U.S. territories that were not yet states.
It declared slavery to be lawful in every state of the Union. Its effect was to heighten the dispute betwen the two sides, and to help bring on the Civil War - which eventually freed all the slaves.
The law that was found to be unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision was the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery in certain territories. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in these territories, as it violated the constitutional rights of slaveholders.
the decision made slavery legal in all us territories that were not yet states
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was declared null and void by the Dred Scott decision. This ruling by the Supreme Court held that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories, effectively invalidating the Missouri Compromise's restriction on slavery in the northern territories.
Plantation owners were outraged that slavery had been outlawed in the territories. People in the territories were angry that a new political party had been established. Many Americans disagreed with the Supreme Court decision to limit slavery in the territories. Opposing forces clashed because they disagreed about popular sovereignty and slavery.
In the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that popular sovereignty—allowing territories to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery—was unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment. The Court argued that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories, as doing so would deprive slaveholders of their property rights without due process. This ruling effectively nullified the principle of popular sovereignty and intensified the national debate over slavery.
The Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford outraged Northerners because it ruled that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories. This decision was seen as a blow to the abolitionist movement and reinforced the perception that the federal government was siding with pro-slavery interests.
Dred Scott