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Summary Of The Dred Scott Case

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During the early-to-mid 1800s, the North and South had begun to seriously argue on the issue of slavery. While the South were in favor of keeping slavery, the North could not wait to be rid of it. The decision of the Dred Scott case would be known as an important event which would spark the friction between the North and South to rise drastically. Dred Scott, an African American slave, sued for his freedom because he had lived in a free state for most of his time in the United States. In the ruling at Supreme Court, Chief Justice Taney had ruled that because he was an African American slave, Dred Scott could not sue for the reason that Scott was not a citizen and that he was property. As a matter of fact, it was regarded that slaves were indeed …show more content…

In the ruling of this case, it was announced that slaves located in any territory, free state or slave state, could not be given their freedom unless consented by the owner. In the Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, it is said that the government cannot dispossess private property from an individual without fair payment. With that being said, slaves were considered as private property of their owners. This would not allow the government of any free state to consent a slave its freedom without consent from the slaveowner. In a nutshell, the status of free blacks in the United States was very much affected by the Dred Scott case …show more content…

Due to the rulings of the court, it became regarded that by banning slavery in certain territories, the Missouri Compromise was very unconstitutional due to the fact that it would be taking away the private property possessed by the slaveowners, which was against the Bill of Rights. With the compromise be rid of, slavery was allowed in any territory, which meant that all states were to be considered “slave states”. The people of the Northern states were enraged by this decision. Friction between Northerners and Southerners grew dramatically and would cause the Civil War to take place, eventually ending slavery in the United States. With that being said, the Dred Scott case decision had very much influenced the future of slavery in

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