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Dred Scott's Freedom

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In 1847 Dred Scott sued his slave owners widow for his freedom. Scott’s argument was that since he had previously been a residence of the free state of Illinois he was a free man. Scott eventually lost the case when, in 1857, it was brought to the Supreme Court who ruled in a 7-2 majority against Scott. The court stated that due to the fact that Scott was of African descent he could not be an American citizen, and therefore not sue in federal courts. The court also ruled that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, effectively allowing slavery in all states and territories.
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Summary of Source The editorial discloses the power that the Court adheres to and whether it should be accountable for the decision making of fugitive slaves. The writer had discussed that in no way did the verdict of the Dred Scott case follow an act of law, but was merely “nullity.” During the settlement, they decided that since Dred Scott’s master had brought him on free land in Missouri or of the United States without having a citizenship, which resulted in him having no case. It continues on to say that the jurisdiction of the case was influenced by opinion, which did not involve any legalities.

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When congress was siding more with free states, Southern Leader, John C. Calhoun, created the “doctrine of nullification” which states that “a state has the constitutional right to nullify a national law” (73). This action almost lead to war when South Carolina invoked this doctrine and Andrew Jackson took military action to keep the union in tact. Although both sides were able to reach a compromise, a civil war will take place 30 years from then. Another spike in tensions was the Dred Scott decision (1857). A slave named Dred Scott argued that since his master died in a free state, and the Missouri Compromise of 1820, a federal law, made slavery in a free state illegal, he was a free man.

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509 Words | 3 Pages

In 1857 the Dred Scott case was pulled into the supreme court. Dred Scott was claiming that even though he was a slave, He had been in a free country long enough to be a free citizen for the United States. The Supreme court ruled that blacks, with ancestors that were imported to become slaves weren’t aren’t able to become free american citizens. Therefore they weren’t able to appeal to a jury or able to to sue in federal court.

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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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756 Words | 4 Pages

Dred Scott was born was a slave in the state of Virginia and was owned by Peter Blow, who died in 1832. Scott only had two masters after Blow’s death; one lived in Wisconsin and later Illinois, both of which prohibited slavery, yet, Scott didn’t petition for freedom. Instead he met his wife Harriet. The two met their new master in Louisiana, who did not grant them freedom, so Scott looked for legal action to escape his slavery. Over a period of seven years, he went through trial and retrial until he was denied his final freedom in 1854.

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1098 Words | 5 Pages

Dred Scott was a slave that attempted to sue for his freedom. The case rose to the Supreme Court, and justices ruled in 1857 that slaves were mere property, with none of the rights or recognition assumed to human beings. This decision threatened to overturn the entire basis of the laws that had hitherto managed to prevent a civil war. The classification of slaves as property rose question to the authority of the government to regulate this institution. The Southern states once again challenged the territorial confines of slavery and opposition intensified.

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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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1299 Words | 6 Pages

In addition, this decision revealed that African-Americans were considered to be property rather than citizens. In sum, Dred Scott, a slave of Dr. John Emerson of Illinois, a state in which slavery is prohibited, sued his master’s widow for not granting him his freedom in a free state. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was not entitled to his freedom and must remain a slave. Lincoln described the Dred Scott Decision as a “burlesque upon judicial decisions”. Significantly, this decision displays the false interpretation of the Declaration of Independence(DOI) and the clear opposition Congress has to the idea that equality also applied to blacks.

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Once he arrived back in Missouri, Scott said that because he had lived on free soil, therefore, he should be well thought as a free American. The deliberation was carried out to the supreme court and it became a very famous ruling. When the Dred Scott case was done and he was to remain a slave just because Illinois law had no effect on him in Missouri. The Dred Scott became a symbol for the freedom of slaves for years to

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1069 Words | 5 Pages

It is also noted that this entire lawsuit took ten years to settle. Compare that to today the ruling time would’ve been cut in half, or even less. Many blacks didn’t have the same rights as white during that time even if blacks were free. It is also important to note that the Missouri compromise was ruled unconstitutional. Why did Dred Scott sue for his freedom 6 Quote by Taney 7 3

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94 Words | 1 Pages

The end result of the Dred Scott decision was Chief Justice Roger Taney 's decision that Congress did not possess the jurisdiction to stop slavery from spreading into other territories, even if they were considered free. Even worse, any free Black could now be allowably forced into slavery. Being forced into slavery was also seen as being beneficial to the free Blacks. Instead of reaching a decision as President Buchanan had hoped, it had started a rapid expansion of the conflict. This rapid expansion over the issue of slavery eventually led to the Civil War.

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359 Words | 2 Pages

The Dred Scott decision of 1865 consisted of several implications on the status of free blacks in the United States, as well as concept of popular sovereignty, and the future of slavery in America. however, I believe the implications of the Dred Scott decision was for the status of free blacks in the United States due to the impacts it caused and the questions it rose. First of all, Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man from Missouri who moved in with his master Peter Blow, in Illinois, a free state. Dred Scott unsuccessfully fought for his freedom by claiming that being a resident in a free state made him a free man. However, in supreme court it was ruled that because blacks can not be recognized as citizens, they did not have

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537 Words | 3 Pages

Dred Scott was sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had lived for a time in a "free" territory. The Court ruled against him, saying that under the Constitution, he was his master 's property. The people involved with this court case are the Supreme Court,Dred Scott, and Chief Justice Roger B. The final judgment for this case ended up in Dred Scott 's favor.

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685 Words | 3 Pages

Dred Scott was a slave who attempted to gain his freedom. Scott was owned by a man for the early part of his life, and then was sold to a new man once his original owner died (Tindall 672). He followed his new owner around the country, and lived in several free states (Tindall 672). Once his second owner died, Scott filed for his freedom (Tindall 672). After going through a rigorous process, the court finally decided that Scott had no grounds for his case because he was not actually a citizen (Tindall 672).

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

Unfortunately for Scott and all African Americans, this case greatly backfired, as the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent are not citizens of any state or the United States and therefore, have no rights. Furthermore, the Supreme Court said that because slaves were private property, which is protected by the Constitution, that slave owners could legally bring their “property” wherever they wanted. This extremely racist ruling showed that a prevalent belief was that slaves, despite being

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