View source for Dred Scott v. Sandford

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{{Events leading to American Civil War}}
'''Dred Scott v. Sandford''', {{ussc|60|393|1857}}, was a [[US Supreme Court]] [[landmark decision]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.oxfordaasc.com/public/features/archive/0809/index.jsp |title=Focus on Dred Scott v. Sandford |author= |date= |website= |publisher=Oxford University Press |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref> In March 1857, the court ruled that blacks, whether [[slavery|slaves]], or free, were not [[citizenship|citizens]] of the [[United States]].<ref name="IHA">{{cite web |url= http://www.ushistory.org/us/32a.asp |title= 32a. The Dred Scott Decision |author= |date= |website= |publisher= Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref> They could not, therefore, sue in [[federal judiciary of the United States|federal court]].<ref name="IHA" />

Dred Scott had sued in federal court and claimed that he was free because he had lived in free [[territory]].{{efn|Based on the [[Missouri Compromise]] of 1820, [[Illinois]] was a free state, and slavery was not allowed.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/missouricompromise1.htm |title= The Missouri Compromise |author=  |date=  |website=  |publisher= Social Studies for Kids |accessdate= 9 April 2015 |archive-date= 22 March 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150322230934/http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/missouricompromise1.htm |url-status= dead}}</ref> The [[Missouri Compromise]] also stated that slavery was not allowed in all states that were part of the [[Louisiana Purchase]] north of the southern [[border]] of Missouri.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ushistory.org/us/23c.asp |title=23c. The Missouri Compromise |author= |date= |website= |publisher= Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia |accessdate=11 April 2015}}</ref>}} He lost his case in a ruling that has been [[wikt:condemn|condemned]] by many as the Supreme Court's worst decision.<ref>''Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia''. Volume 1, ed. Junius P. Rodriguez (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2007), p. 265</ref>

The Dred Scott case, which denied Scott his freedom by ruling that blacks were not US citizens, was the end of years of legal cases from 1846 to 1857 in lower federal district court and [[Missouri]] courts, which had granted Dred Scott freedom for about two years.

==Background==
Dr. John Emerson was a [[surgeon]] serving in the [[US Army]].<ref name=EBC>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_dred.html |title=Landmark Cases, Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) |author= |date= |website= |publisher=Educational Broadcasting Corporation |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref> In 1833, he purchased Dred Scott, a slave in Missouri.<ref name=Oyez>{{cite web |url=http://www.oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1856/1856_0/ |title=DRED SCOTT v. SANDFORD |author= |date= |website= |publisher=The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref> The same year, he moved to [[Illinois]] and took Scott with him.<ref name=Oyez/> Emerson was sent to a fort in the [[Wisconsin Territory]].{{efn|Emerson was the post surgeon at [[Fort Snelling]] in what is now [[Minnesota]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historicfortsnelling.org/plan-visit/what-do/dred-scotts-quarters |title=Dred Scott's Quarters |author= |date= |website= |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |accessdate=9 April 2015 |archive-date=27 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327073043/http://www.historicfortsnelling.org/plan-visit/what-do/dred-scotts-quarters |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}<ref name=WGBH>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html |title=Dred Scott's fight for freedom, 1846 - 1857 |author= |date= |website= |publisher=WGBH/PBS Online |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref> Scott, his slave, went with him.

While living in [[Wisconsin Territory]] (now [[Minnesota]]), Scott met and married Harriet Robinson.<ref name=WGBH/> She was owned by a [[justice of the peace]]. After marrying Scott, Emerson became her owner as well.<ref name=WGBH/> Emerson returned to Missouri and took his slaves with him.<ref name=HP>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/dred.htm |title=The Dred Scott Decision |author= |date=1996 |website= |publisher=The History Place |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref>

In 1843, Emerson died in Missouri. Scott and his family were left to Emerson's wife, Eliza Sandford.<ref name=WGBH/>

== Decision ==
[[File:Judgment in the U.S. Supreme Court Case Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford - NARA - 301674.tif|thumb|right|200px|{{Center|Judgment in the U.S. Supreme Court Case Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford}}]]
In 1846, Scott sued for his [[freedom]] in court.<ref name=HP/> Helped by [[abolitionist]] [[lawyer]]s, he claimed that he was free because he had lived in free states for a long time.<ref name=HP/> The [[defense (legal)|defense]] claimed that Dr. Emerson was forced to move to the Wisconsin Territory because he served with the US Army and that he should be able to keep his [[property]]. Chief Justice [[Roger B. Taney]],{{efn|Taney was a strong supporter of slavery.<ref name=WGBH/> Seven of the nine justices were appointed by [[US Presidents]] from the [[South]] who were [[pro-slavery]].<ref name=WGBH/> In 1863, seven of the nine justices owned slaves.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_US_Supreme_Court_justices_owned_slaves |title=How many US Supreme Court justices owned slaves? |author= |date= |website= |publisher=Answers.com |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref>}} decided that Scott was not free and so he did not have a right to [[sue]].<ref name=TUSH>{{cite web |url=http://www.teachushistory.org/dred-scott-decision |title=The Dred Scott Decision |author= |date= |website= |publisher=Teach US History |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref> Furthermore, he stated that the [[US Congress]] could not make laws against slavery in United States territories.{{efn|The decision made the [[Missouri Compromise]] of 1820 unconstitutional.<ref name=LOC>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Missouri.html |title=Missouri Compromise |author= |date= |website= |publisher=The Library of Congress |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref> However, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 had been repealed by the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]], which gave territories the right to vote on the issue of slavery.<ref name=LOC/>}}<ref name=TUSH/> The [[majority opinion]] was agreed to by seven of the nine Justices.<ref name=TUSH/>

The [[dissent|dissenting]] Justices pointed out when the [[US Constitution]] was [[ratification|ratified]], blacks were already considered citizens in several states.

The ruling was a major setback to the anti-slavery movement.<ref name=TUSH/> The [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] condemned the ruling. In effect, it allowed slavery in all US territories, even in the [[Northern United States|North]].<ref name=TUSH/>

==Aftermath==
The decision became a central issue in slavery [[debate]]s and helped cause [[Abraham Lincoln]] to be elected as US President and then the [[American Civil War]].

In 1865, the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]] banned slavery in the United States. In 1868, the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] overturned the Dred Scott decision<ref name=WGBH/> and gave nearly all persons born in the country US citizenship regardless of their color.<ref name=MHS>{{cite web |url=http://www.mohistory.org/Dred_Scott/snopsis.htm |title=The Dred Scott Case - Summary |author= |date= |website= |publisher=Missouri Historical Society |accessdate=9 April 2015}}</ref>

Soon after the 1857 decision, Eliza Sandford sold Scott and his family to Taylor Blow.<ref name=MHS/> Blow, ne of Scott's previous owners, then granted Scott and his family their freedom.<ref name=MHS/> Scott died a free man on September 17, 1858. He did not live long enough to see blacks become US citizens.<ref name=MHS/>

''Dred Scott'' is one of only four decisions by the Supreme Court that were overturned by an [[amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]].<ref name=FurbishCGA>{{cite web |url=http://search.cga.state.ct.us/dlps96/Rpt/htm/96-R-1042.htm |title=OLR Research Report |author=Lawrence K. Furbish |date=25 September 1996 |website= |publisher=The Connecticut General Assembly |accessdate=1 March 2016 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306215911/http://search.cga.state.ct.us/dlps96/Rpt/htm/96-R-1042.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The other three are:
* ''[[Chisholm v. Georgia]]'', which was overturned by passage of the [[Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eleventh Amendment]].<ref name=FurbishCGA/>
* ''[[Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.]]'', which was overturned by passage of the [[Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Sixteenth Amendment]].<ref name=FurbishCGA/>
* ''[[Oregon v. Mitchell]], which was reversed by the [[Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-sixth Amendment]].<ref name=FurbishCGA/>

Arguably, one more case could be added:<ref name=FurbishCGA/>
* ''[[Minor v. Happersett]]'', which was indirectly overturned by the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]]. In 1875, Virginia Minor, in trying to gain the right to vote for women, argued the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] gave ''citizens'' the right to vote.<ref name=ECC>{{cite web |url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/nineteentham.htm |title=Women's Fight for the Vote: The Nineteenth Amendment  |author= |date= |website= |publisher=Exploring Constitutional Conflicts |accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref> The Court said it did not.<ref name=ECC/> The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, 45 years later, gave women the right to vote.<ref name=ECC/> However, ''[[Minor v. Happersett]]'' was still cited as case law into the 1960s in other right to vote issues.<ref name=ECC/>

== Related pages ==
* [[Slavery]]
* [[American Civil War]]
* [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]]
* [[Smith v. Allwright]]

== Notes ==
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== References ==
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{{reflist}}

== Other websites ==
* [http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dred-scott-decision 1857 Dred Scott decision]
* [http://www.cyberessays.com/lists/fairness-of-the-dred-scott-decision/ Essays on Fairness Of The Dred Scott Decision]

{{American Civil War}}
{{African American topics}}

[[Category:1857 in the United States]]
[[Category:Abolitionists]]
[[Category:African-American history]]
[[Category:Slavery in the United States]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:Origins of the American Civil War]]