Dred Scott v. Sandford

**Dred Scott v. Sandford**, , was a US Supreme Court landmark decision. In March 1857, the court ruled that blacks, whether slaves, or free, were not citizens of the United States. They could not, therefore, sue in federal court.

Dred Scott had sued in federal court and claimed that he was free because he had lived in free territory. He lost his case in a ruling that has been condemned by many as the worst decision ever made by the Supreme Court; because of its racism, judicial activism, bad evidence, and being part of why the Civil War happened.

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. In 1833, he purchased Dred Scott, a slave in Missouri. The same year, he moved to Illinois and took Scott with him. Emerson was sent to a fort in the Wisconsin Territory. Scott, his slave, went with him.

While living in Wisconsin Territory (now Minnesota), Scott met and married Harriet Robinson. She was owned by a justice of the peace. After marrying Scott, Emerson became her owner as well. Emerson returned to Missouri and took his slaves with him.

In 1843, Emerson died in Missouri. Scott and his family were left to Emerson's wife, Eliza Sandford.

## Decision

In 1846, Scott sued for his freedom in court. Helped by abolitionist lawyers, he claimed that he was free because he had lived in free states for a long time. The 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, decided that Scott was not free and so he did not have a right to sue. Furthermore, he stated that the US Congress could not make laws against slavery in United States territories. The majority opinion was agreed to by seven of the nine Justices.

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

The ruling was a major setback to the anti-slavery movement. The Republican Party condemned the ruling. In effect, it allowed slavery in all US territories, even in the North.

## Aftermath

The decision became a central issue in slavery debates and helped cause Abraham Lincoln to be elected as US President and then the American Civil War.

In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment banned slavery in the United States. In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment overturned the Dred Scott decision and gave nearly all persons born in the country US citizenship regardless of their color.

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

_Dred Scott_ is one of only four decisions by the Supreme Court that were overturned by an amendment to the United States Constitution. The other three are:
- _Chisholm v. Georgia_, which was overturned by passage of the Eleventh Amendment.
- _Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co._, which was overturned by passage of the Sixteenth Amendment.
- _Oregon v. Mitchell, which was reversed by the Twenty-sixth Amendment.

Arguably, one more case could be added:
- _Minor v. Happersett_, which was indirectly overturned by the Nineteenth Amendment. In 1875, Virginia Minor, in trying to gain the right to vote for women, argued the Fourteenth Amendment gave _citizens_ the right to vote. The Court said it did not. The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, 45 years later, gave women the right to vote. However, _Minor v. Happersett'' was still cited as case law into the 1960s in other right to vote issues.

## Related pages

- Slavery
- American Civil War
- Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
- Smith v. Allwright

## Other websites

- 1857 Dred Scott decision
- Essays on Fairness Of The Dred Scott Decision