Dred Scott Case in the United States
Introduction to Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott Case, landmark case of the 1850s in which the Supreme Court of the United States declared that African Americans were not U.S. citizens. The Court also determined that the portion of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that banned slavery in U.S. territories north and west of the state of Missouri was unconstitutional. Officially titled Scott v. Sandford, the decision intensified ongoing debates over slavery that further polarized the American North and South and eventually gave rise to the American Civil War in 1861.
In 1846 Dred Scott, a slave living in St. Louis, Missouri, sued to prove that he, his wife, Harriet, and their two daughters were legally entitled to their freedom. After being tried in Missouri state courts and in a federal circuit court, the case went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1856. The following year, the Court rejected Scott’s claim. Speaking for the Court, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney concluded that blacks, even when free, could never become citizens of the United States and thus did not have a right to sue in federal courts. Taney also declared that Congress lacked the power to prohibit slavery in federal territories, a ruling that invalidated the part of the Missouri Compromise that banned slavery in the western territories.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Dred Scott Case in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
Guide to Dred Scott Case
In this Section
Dred Scott Case, Dred Scott Case Background, Dred Scott’s Life, Dred Scott Case in the Supreme Court, Dred Scott Case Dissents and Dred Scott Case Significance.
Dred Scott Case in relation to Crime and Race
Dred Scott Case is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: In the annals of the history of the U.S. Supreme Court, there is one case that is consistently ranked as the worst decision ever made by the Court. This is the Dred Scott case, officially known as Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). The decision was widely discussed in the 1858 debates for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois between Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Democratic incumbent, and Abraham Lincoln, Republican congressman. The debates were complicated by the 1857 Supreme Court ruling that had every tavern in the country buzzing with the words “Dred Scott.” The Court ruled that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories (those areas west of the Mississippi River not yet states) and struck down the Missouri Compromise of 1820, even though the law had already been repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which Douglas had sponsored.
Resources
Notes and References
- Entry about Dred Scott Case in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime