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Dred Scott Case

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The Dred Scott Decision & History Dred Scott was a African American born in 1795 (1800) to a slave family, in Southampton County, Virginia. Dred Scott was owned by Peter Blow and his family who later moved to Alabama then to Missouri. In the year 1832 Peter passed away Scott was then bought by an army surgeon Dr. John Emerson. In 1836 Scott fell in love with Harriet Robinson, Dr. Emerson bought her and they soon were wed. Soon after Emerson took both slaves and his family with him to the states of Illinois and Wisconsin both of which were free states at the time. John Emerson most likely didn't see this to be an issue since he did not consider himself to live in the state, only to be stationed there. It is unknown if Dred Scott knew that he …show more content…

Curtis stepped in and aided Montgomery, disputing the constitutional questions raised by this case. The final decision of the case was March 6, 1857 (Dred Scott V. Sanford) as eight of the nine justices of the court system wrote out their personal thoughts and decisions on the case. Now mind you that the majority of the nine justices of the court that day were Democrats and most of them were slaveholding families, so they would have been making very biased opinions on the case as well as its circumstances. Delivering the majority opinion eleven years after the first case was initiated was Roger B. Taney (1777-1864). He stated before the court that the ruling decision was against Dred Scott, Eliza Scott, Lizzie Scott and Dred’s wife Harriet Robinson, denying them their long fight for their freedom. The votes were seven to two, meaning seven people agreed with Taney who later said that African Americans were not citizens of the United States and had no right to sue within the Federal court system. Taney also said that “They (African Americans) had no rights which the white man was bound to …show more content…

Irene Emerson remarried to abolitionist Dr. Calvin Chaffee, who found that his new wife owned arguably the most famous slave of 1857, right before the final decision of the court system. At that point there was nothing he could do but as soon as the court made the last decision he immediately had Irene transfer ownership of the Scott family to Dred Scott’s previous owner's family, the Blow family. The Blow family (who had made a name/ wealth for themselves after their father's death)paid Irene an amount of 750 dollars (the wages of the last seven years that Dred Scott would have been making her if they had not been in court). the Blow family also paid off all of the legal obligations that came with the Scott family and once the Blow family retained ownership of the Scott family they granted them their freedom. This was extremely short lived for Dred Scott who died in 1858, but he will always be an important figure in American history due to his bravery of standing against slavery while white Americans were trying to take a clear stand on the status of slavery. Unfortunately Dred Scott’s timing couldn’t have been worse but everything happens for a reason and we will always be able to respect his fight for freedom in a restricted time for African

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455 Words | 2 Pages

The trial ended with two of the three judges ruling in favor of Mrs. Emerson and John Sanford. This ruling overruled a previous precedent which was that the court usually ruled in favor of the slave when they had been moved from a free state to a slave state. This precedent was overruled because they ruled in the owner’s favor instead of the slave’s.

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In 1851 Charles Edmund LaBeaume hired the Scotts for the next seven years. Mrs. Emerson moved to Massachusetts and married Dr. Calvin Chaffee in November 1850. He was an abolitionist and was elected to congress shortly after he was married. He had no idea about his wife and the slavery

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In 1833, Dred Scott was purchased as a slave by John Emerson, an army surgeon who was moved from Missouri, the place he was bought, to a base in the Wisconsin Territory. However, under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery was banned there, making the area a “free” state. Nonetheless, Scott continued to work as a laborer for Emerson for the next four years, and was a hired hand whenever the surgeon would go out of town for business. After moving around with Emerson, as well as his family, Scott was willed to Emerson’s wife Eliza Irene Stanford after his owner’s death in 1843. Eliza refused to set the Scott family free after they wished to purchase their freedom, causing Dred Scott to sue her in a state court, alleging that he was free under

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To first understand why Mr. Dred Scott decided to sue for his freedom, we have to understand the prelude to his story. Even before Dred Scott was born a case in London was buzzing that would emancipate slaves and some historians believe the case contributed to increasing colonial support for separatism in the Thirteen Colonies of British North America, by parties on both sides of the slavery question who wanted to establish independent government and law (Britannica). The case was Somerset v. Stewart and it has been deemed one of the most important legal actions in the history of the antislavery movement (Weiner 71). The facts of the case were that James Somerset was a slave of Charles Stewart, an officer in the British colony of Boston in

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Scott and his wife file for separate petitions with the court as their petitions are dismissed and their lawyer files for a new trial. Irene then hands over the Scott’s to the St. Louis County Sheriff to be their sole custody as slaves, while the case that Scott had previously filed with the court was being resolved. The court case had a ruling and the Scotts’ were freed from slavery. Mrs. Emerson was not pleased with the court’s ruling and she and her brother appealed the ruling with the Missouri Supreme court and a new trial was started and named – Dred Scott v. Irene Emerson. The Missouri supreme Court decides to reverse their own ruling and Scott and his family are no longer free but slaves again living in a free

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747 Words | 3 Pages

Dred Scott vs. Sanford is a Supreme Court case landmark. About a man born into slavery and taken to a free state and fight for his freedom. It is important to learn and understand about its History, background, constitutional issue, and current impact. There are many historical facts about the Dred Scott court case. Peter Blow was Dred Scott’s master since birth.

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On December 24th 1851 court was adjourned until March 15th 1852. Dred Scott did not deny that the case had been heard before; he did however state the decisions were never based on Missouri law. In Dred Scott’s conclusion he stated, “slavery was the will of God and times now are not what they were when former decisions on the subject were made”. Basically Scott knew racial and sectional prejudices played a role in the decision. Justice Hamilton Gamble agreed with Dred Scott that times have changed but disagreed that any principles had changed.

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Roger Taney played a vital role with the tension between the north and the south based on the decision he made with the Dread Scott case. Because of Taney’s decision, he led many conflicts such as the free or slave black person, the Missouri Compromise, and lastly the conflict between the north and the south idea on slavery. Taney believed that blacks could not be considered Citizens in the United States because of their race. He states “there are two clauses in the constitution which point directly and specifically to the negro race as a separate class of persons, and show clearly that they were not regarded as a portion of the people or citizens of the government then formed”(Dread Scott v. Sandford). Since no black person could be free

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Dred Scott reported that Mrs. Emerson beat him and treated him terribly. Hence, why he decided to fight for the freedom that he believe he deserved. Two out of the three justices were pro slavery making it a hard battle to fight for Dred

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The ruling had included “two northern justices [joining] the all five southern members,” to eventually equate to the 7 to 2 ruling of Dred Scott and his wife remaining a slave despite his owner taking him to a free state. By having two northern justices advocating for the Dred Scott to remain a slave alongside the decision to disband the Missouri Compromise caused northerners and abolitionist alike to fear for the future of the nation. Incidentally, it did not come as a surprise for most since the courts were dominated by pro-slavery individuals, but it further reinforced the ideology that slavery was here to

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For example, a man who was the lone dissenter, Justice John Marshall Harlan argued that constitution is colorblind because in the Civil Right citizens are equal each other even they are black or white. Not only that, Harland did not agree that legislature could not distinguish the race between people which involve civil right, he said that the justices did not deserved to hold the law when they were senseless. Despite Plessy and his lawyers provided all the argument about his case that him did not violation the law, they still could not change whatever the court decided about the Separate Car Act. The court showed that the Louisiana can process the law Separate Car Act.

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768 Words | 4 Pages

The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision had decreed that they could not. Who would prevail, the Court or the

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Herbert Hill strongly believes we should adopt a strong affirmative active action policies that mandate quotes and/or timetables. He also argues there must be some benchmark, and some tangible measures of change. Hill states a system based on race existed for many generations under the U.S. Constitution. This system defined black people as property not as human beings. In the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, Chief Justice Taylor declares that black people have not rights and they are just articles of merchandise.

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On May 18th, the final decision was a 7-1 vote, saying “separate but equal”, one court member was absent due to illness. Justice Henry Billings Brown concluded the case by saying, “Segregation does not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination,” (Oyez.org). This decision upheld state imposed racial segregation (Oyez). It also formed the basis of segregation for about fifty years (worldbookonline). The “separate but equal” doctrine stated that black and whites could have separate facilities, as long as they were equal (Oyez).

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525 Words | 3 Pages

First, one of the earlier cases about racism was Dred Scott vs. Sandford and how strong people felt about free black people. In 1846 a free black man and woman named Dred and Harriet Scott. They moved to

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