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Dred Scott V. Sandford Case Analysis

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The Supreme Court is important in America because any case they decide to hear, might change laws. The Supreme Court’s job is to finalize court decisions and decide if they want to create a law for the whole country to follow. Whether the case was first heard in a State Court or Federal Court, it could make its way up to the Supreme Court to be heard and set a precedent in the future. A case that went to the Supreme Court is the Dred vs. Sanford. The case impacted America slowly after the case was over. Dred Scott, an African American that lived in the free state of Illinois moved to the slave state of Missouri and became a slave. In the Dred Scott v. Sandford article, Dred Scott said that whether a free African person or a slave was able to …show more content…

territories. The court believed what the slaveholders did was constitutional because slaves were known to be property. Slaveholders were protected by the 5th amendment (McBride). Slavery was acceptable in the south because there were no laws for slavery in the south. Chief Justice Roger Brook Taney believed that African Americans had “no rights which any white man was bound to respect” (Dred Scott v. Sandford Rules on Citizenship of African Americans). The Chief Justices that were on the case are Roger B. Taney, Samuel Nelson, John McLean and Robert Grier. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a supporter of slavery said that African American people were not allowed to become citizens. Justice John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis argued that Dred Scott should be freed under the Missouri Compromise (Dred Scott Case). The majority opinion of the case was 7 to 2. The Supreme Court ruled Dred as not being about to bring a suit in the federal Court. Many of the Justices had different opinions about the case whether they were pro slavery or not. The precedent that the Dred vs. Sanford case set for the country was that blacks were not citizens and had no right to sue. The Dred vs. Sanford case is a landmark case because of the fact that it showed how the government felt about the issue of slavery at the time. The government allowed the states to decide whether slavery was acceptable or not. After the case, there was a civil war between the north and south because of

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213 Words | 1 Pages

The Dred Scott vs. Sanford Supreme Court case has gone down in history as one of the most notorious cases and recognized as driving the country closer to civil war. The case became controversial in 1833, because Dr. John Emerson, purchased Dred Scott, and moved to the Wisconsin Territory. From the Missouri Compromise, slavery was banned in the Wisconsin Territory, therefore, making Scott a free man, right? After living there for a number of years Emerson moved to St. Louis and died in 1843 leaving Eliza Irene Sanford, Emerson’s wife, the owner of Scott and his family. When Scott asked for freedom, Stanford declined which lead to Scott suing the state court, where he won and was acknowledged as a free man.

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455 Words | 2 Pages

The two parties in this case are Dred Scott and John Sanford. Scott, a former slave bought by Dr. John Emerson, argued that when him and the Emerson family moved to Illinois, which was a free state, that he became a free man and no longer could be held as a slave to the Emerson family when they moved to the slave state of Missouri. Sanford, Mrs. Emerson’s brother, argued that since he went to Missouri with Mrs. Emerson, and that it was legal in Missouri to hold slaves, that he was still considered to be Mrs. Emerson’s property. Once Dr. Emerson died, Scott and his family sued Mrs. Emerson for false imprisonment, but Mrs. Emerson won the case in a Missouri Circuit court when Scott’s lawyers were unable to prove that Emerson was holding him as a slave. Scott’s lawyers argued for a retrial and it went to the Missouri Supreme Court.

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770 Words | 4 Pages

Dred Scott was a slave for Dr.John Emerson , while traveling with Dr.Emerson Dred Scott was taken into the free state of Illinois. In 1836 , after staying in Illinois for two and a half years , Dr.Emerson decided to move to Wisconsin with Dred Scott. Dred Scott's stay in Illinois and Wisconsin both being places where slavery is prohibited , were chances for Scott to to make a claim to the court in the free states. After Dr.Emerson had died in 1843 , Dr.Emerson’s wife took over Scott and his wife. Dred Scott offered to buy his wife’s and his own freedom from Mrs.Emerson for $300.

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774 Words | 4 Pages

In the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1957, a black man named Dred Scott who at the time was living in Illinois and previously in free territory of Wisconsin before moving back to the slave state of Missouri, had gone against the government and appealed to the Supreme Court hoping he would get the grant of freedom. Scott attempted to sue the the Missouri courts for his freedom, but ultimately failed in the end. He was claiming that his residence in a freed territory made him a free man, but the courts resided. Eventually, Scott brought this case to the Supreme Court which caused a big dispute between the people in America about the

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880 Words | 4 Pages

Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia around 1795, he then lived in the free state of Illinois and in the free territory, where slavery was prohibited under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. However, in 1846, the Scotts sued for their freedom in the Circuit Court of St. Louis, Missouri. They argued that their years of living in free territories had freed them from slavery, they lost that case. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney concluded that making slavery illegal in certain territories, Congress had exceeded its authority under the Constitution, that just because Dred Scott was black he was not considered a citizen and could not sue the federal courts. Moreover, instead of resolving the controversy, the case increased the conflict over slavery in the country (Scott v. Sandford (1857), page 336).

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907 Words | 4 Pages

Dred Scott sought to challenge this. Due to the Missouri Compromise, Illinois and the territory where Dr. Emerson had taken Dred Scott and purchased Harriet, were free (Independence Hall Association 2013). Dred Scott sued his owner, John Sandford, for assaulting his family including himself. Scott openly admitted he was born a slave and of African descent, but he also argued that once his owner took

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1206 Words | 5 Pages

Sandford was another famous example of how the quest for freedom was further limited for blacks, and how their freedom was restricted instead of expanded. Dred Scott was a slave that was bought by an Army doctor and was living in a free state for years. The law at the time stated that if a slave lived in a territory not part of the United States for a certain period of time, they would be granted freedom. Scott then returned back to the slave state of Missouri and argued that he was to be granted his freedom. He won his case in the local court, but the case went to the Supreme Court where a supreme court judge denied his freedom.

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731 Words | 3 Pages

The state attracted citizens from both the North and the South, causing the disagreements of the opposing sides to become more evident. By the year 1855, issues emerged when proslavery and antislavery settlers were competing in order to outnumber one another in votes. Two years later, divisions between the North and South grew even stronger when the Supreme Court took on the case of Dred Scott. Scott, who was an African American slave, sued for his freedom after his masters had traveled with him to a free state. The Court, ruled by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, came to the conclusion that Scott was not a free man because he was property and it would be unconstitutional to take the property of a citizen.

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1559 Words | 7 Pages

Dred Scott v. Sandford is one of the darkest cases in the history of the Supreme Court. After years of slavery, parts of the United States were beginning to head in a direction away from slavery. The establishment of the Missouri Compromise and gaining some territories as slave states and others as free states, was proof of this shift from slavery, especially in the north (Pearson Education Inc. 2005). The Scott v. Sandford decision, in which an African American man was denied both his freedom and his citizenship to the United States, did not link up with this new way of thinking.

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716 Words | 3 Pages

This man stated that no African American could ever enjoy the rights of a U.S. citizen, thus not being able to sue. He also said that the federal government had no authority to limit the expansion of slavery, declaring that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. In all, the Dred Scott Decision infuriated abolitionists and Republicans, because they wanted to prevent the expansion of slavery in the West. They also feared that slavery would spread. This

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921 Words | 4 Pages

Their owner died, henceforth, they were now owned by Emerson's wife Eliza Stanford. Scott asked if they could buy their freedom from Stanford but she refused. So Scott sued Stanford saying that he was legally free because they once lived in a free slave state with their owner. "On its way to the Supreme Court, the Dred Scott case grew in scope and significance as slavery became the single most explosive issue in American politics."

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593 Words | 3 Pages

Where Scott, a slave black man, argued that he should be free because his owner had taken him and died in a free-state. That he should not have to go back to his owner’s wife as property, because he was in a state where he should be a free man. The decision written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in two parts. The first part stated that Scott was not a citizen and that he no legal ground to file a lawsuit, and the second part stated that free states laws were unconstitutional based on the 5th amendment’s right of property. This ruling elevated the tensions between the

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1527 Words | 7 Pages

He gained support from local abolitionists and filed for another suit in federal court in 1854, against John Sanford. John Sanford was Emerson’s brother and the executer of his estate. The case was decided in the favor of Sanford, so Dred Scott turned to the U.S. Supreme Court for another chance to fight his case. The Supreme Court ended up taking his case and on March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court’s decision of Scott vs. Sanford was issued. The jury decision was 7-2 and Judge Roger B. Taney denied Scott’s request to become a free slave.

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335 Words | 2 Pages

he Dred Scott decision of 1857 was a significant decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court that declared that blacks, regardless of whether they were free or a slave, had no legal standing because they were not American citizens. The decision was not the first to be made regarding Dred Scott; a Missouri jury ruled in Scott 's favour when Scott claimed that his residence in Illinois and Wisconsin made him free, but the state supreme court ruled against him, which lead to the case being escalated to the US Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court ruled against Scott 7-2. The Dred Scott decision is considered a landmark decision and is indicative of the tumultuous political climate of the time.

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649 Words | 3 Pages

Dred Scott's was so controversial it went up to the Supreme Court. Many abolitionist believed that Dred would win and were astonished when he did not win. Abolitionist were outraged that Chief Justice Robert Taney ruled that African Americans had no rights and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The decision made abolitionist furious the abolitionist wanted to continue their efforts to free slaves. According to Chief Justice Roger Taney of the Supreme Court on his decision on whether to allow African Americans able to be involved in politics, "They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, whether in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect" ( Document G ).

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