Dred Scott decision
Dred Scott Decision (driving argument)
"In 1834 , my master took me from Missouri into the State of Illinois and held me there as a slave for two years . I was then carried by him to Fort Snelling , on the Upper Mississippi , in the Territory called Wisconsin , and kept there as a slave two years longer" Source: 4
Dr. John Emerson
After Blow died in 1832, an army surgeon, Dr. John Emerson, purchased Scott. Source: 2
Irene Emerson
After John died, his slaves became "proporty" of Irene his wife Source: 2
Dred Scott (winning his freedom)
By the time the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Dred Scott decision, Irene had married her second husband, Calvin Chaffee Source: 2
Dr. John Emerson
Dr. John took him to Illinois, a free state then to Fort Snelling in Wisconsin Territory where the Missouri Compromise had outlawed slavery. Source: 2
Dred Scott (life)
Dred Scott was born into slavery around 1799 in Southampton County, Virginia Source: 2
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred and Harriet Scotts driving argument in the case was that they had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory which were both free states Source: 2
Dred Scott (life)
For unknown reasons, Dred and Harriet Scott never tried to run away or sue for freedom while living in or traveling through free states and territories. Source: 2
Dred Scott v. Sandford
However on June 30, 1847 the court ruled against them on a technicality and the judge granted a retrial. Source: 2
Dred Scott (life)
In 1818, he moved with his owner, Peter Blow, to Alabama and in 1830, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri Source: 2
Dred Scott v. Sandford
In April 1846, Dred and Harriet filed separate lawsuits for freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court against Irene Emerson based on two Missouri statutes. Source: 2
Dred Scott (life)
In Fort Snelling, Dred Scott married Harriet Robinson, another enslaved person. Source 2
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Neither Dred nor Harriet Scott could read or write and they needed both logistical and financial support to their church, abolitionists and the Blow family that once owned them. Source: 2
Chief Justice Roger Taney's Decision
On March 6, 1857, in the case of Dred Scott v. John Sanford, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that African Americans were not and could not be citizens Source: 3
Dred Scott v. Sandford (Statutes)
One statute allowed any person of any color to sue for wrongful enslavement and the other stated that any person taken to a free territory automatically became free and could not be re-enslaved upon returning to a slave state. Source: 2
Chief Justice Roger Taney's Decision
Roger Taney was born into the southern aristocracy and became the fifth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Source: 2
Dred Scott Case (Backround)
Scott reportedly attempted to purchase his freedom from Emerson's widow, who refused the sale Source: 1
Chief Justice Rodger Taney
Taney was from Maryland, a slave state, but had long before emancipated his slaves and reportedly paid pensions to his older slaves Source: 3
Chief Justice Roger Taney's Decision
Taney wrote that the Founders' words in the Declaration of Independence, "all men were created equal," were never intended to apply to blacks. Blacks could not vote, travel, or even fall in love and marry of their own free will. Source: 3
Dred Scott (winning his freedom)
Taylor freed Scott and his family on May 26, 1857 and soon after Scott found work as a porter in a St. Louis hotel, but didn't live long as a free man as at about 59 years of age, Scott died from tuberculosis on September 17, 1858. Source: 2
Chief Justice Roger Taney's Decision
The Court's decision went even further, declaring laws that restricted slavery in new states or sought to keep a balance between free and slave states, such as the Missouri Compromise, were unconstitutional. In essence, Black Americans, regardless of where they lived, were believed to be nothing more than commodities. Source: 3
Dred Scott Decision (Impact on the Civil War)
The Dred Scott Decision outraged abolitionists, who saw the Supreme Court's ruling as a way to stop debate about slavery in the territories. Source: 2
Dred Scott Decision (Impact on the Civil War)
The Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862 freed enslaved people living in the Confederacy, but it would be another three years until Congress passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. Source: 2
Dred Scott Decision
The Scotts went to trial again in January 1850 and won their freedom, but, Irene appealed the case to the Missouri Supreme Court which combined Dred and Harriet's cases and reversed the lower court's decision in 1852, making Dred Scott and his family enslaved again. Source: 2
Dred Scott Decision (Impact on the Civil War)
The divide between North and South over slavery grew and culminated in the secession of southern states from the Union and the creation of the Confederate States of America Source: 2
Dred Scott (winning his freedom)
Upset about learning his wife still owned the most infamous slave of the time, he sold Scott and his family to Taylor Blow, the son of Peter Blow Source: 2
Dred Scott Decision (info/overview)
Was a legal case in which the supreme court ruled that a slave, Dred Scott, who had resided in a free state and territory was not thereby entitled to his freedom. Source: 1
