Dred+Scott+Decision



Dred Scott was an African-American slave. His master was an officer in the U.S. Army and took him from Missouri (slave state) to Illinois (free state) and then to Wisconsin (free territory). The army ordered Scott’s master to return to Missouri, and he took Scott with him when he did. The master ended up dying there, but in 1846 Abolitionist lawyers decided to sue for his freedom in court, all agreeing that he should be free since he had lived on free soil for so long. The case became so serious that it was taken to the Supreme Court. Scott eventually lost the case after seven out of nine Justices on the Supreme Court declared that no slave or people with slave ancestors could be a U.S. citizen. Therefore, since Scott was now considered a non-citizen, he had no rights, having no choice to refuse slavery or sue in Federal court. Not only did this court case effect Scott, but it also effected every other African-American in the United States, slave or free. The decision had brought African-Americans rights even farther back, and the fact that black men in five of the original States had been voting since the Declaration of Independence in 1776 was ignored. After the case, the Supreme Court also decided that Congress couldn’t stop slavery in the new territories and declared the Missouri Compromise of 1820 (prohibited slavery north of the parallel 36’30’ in the Louisiana Purchase) to be unconstitutional. The Fifth Amendment (prohibits Congress from depriving persons of their property without due process of law) was claimed to be violated by the Compromise by the Supreme Court. The Dred Scott decision caused much controversy, with abolitionist leaders in the North saying the decision was proof that Southerners wanted to extend slavery throughout the country and ultimately rule the entire nation, while people in the South approved the decision thinking it wasn’t Congress’ right to prohibit slavery in the territories. Abraham Lincoln was appalled by the decision and spoke against it. The Dred Scott decision ultimately brought the United States closer to Civil War.