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Essay On Dred Scott V. Sandford

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Another incident involving slavery that contributed greatly on the conflict between the north and the southern states was the DRED SCOTT DECISION. The Dred Scott decision is described by (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford) as “A landmark decision by the United States supreme court, in which the court ruled that African Americans, whether enslaved or not, could not be first class American citizens and therefore had no right to sue in Federal court and that the Federal governments had no power to regulate slavery. Dred Scott was an African American slave, taken by his master from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois and then the free state of Wisconsin. The master was moved back to Missouri, the slave state and he took Scott with him and later on the master died. The question at hand was should he be set free? …show more content…

Dred Scott to them was a property belonging to his owner, and he could not be taken away from his owner without due process of the law.
These did not seat well with the North as they believed Dred Scott should have been left free. A young lawyer took quite an interest in the case, the very same lawyer we later saw becoming the United States of America President, his name was Abraham Lincoln.
Politically, the Northern and Southern states fell apart again slavery and the slave trade as the main player in causing this division. In the early 1800s, a higher percentage of the Northerners belonged to the Whig party, while most of the Southerners were Democrats. By the 1850’s and beyond, the Whig party was no more and a new party, the Republican Party emerged and most of the Northerners now became

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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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757 Words | 4 Pages

Today the trial, Scott V. Missouri, which was Dred Scott, a slave owned by Irene Emerson, suing for his freedom, had taken place. The trial had started out with a witness for prosecution, who stated that due to Dred Scott’s status as a slave, that he didn’t have any rights within the constitution. He went on to claim that the constitution only covered people and therefore, Dred Scott was only considered property and had no rights. In addition, the witness made the argument that due to Missouri law, Dred Scott was still considered a slave since he still resides within Missouri. During their argument, the Supreme Court questioned the witness about what the definition of a person was in the constitution and whose job it was to debate the Constitution.

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The Results of Dred Scott v Sanford had different effects on American history. This also contributed to the start of the civil war. Dred Scott v Sanford was a court decision on if Dred Scott could sue for his freedom. " According to Supreme Court History, Dred Scott could not sue for his freedom because he was not a citizen. " This was otherwise known as an illegal case.

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Ever wondered how the Civil Rights Movement came into play? Many Supreme Court cases have influenced the Civil Rights movement by making equal and unequal laws for the blacks making people fight harder for what they believed in. Cases like the Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) case, the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) case, and the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case. All three of these cases played a big role in influencing the Civil Rights movement.

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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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The South was very threatened by this movement. Pro-slavery Southerners and abolitionists detested each other and refused to compromise with each others beliefs. In the “Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention”, it states, “every American citizen who retains a human being in involuntary bondage as his property is (according to scripture) a MAN STEALER” (doc B). This quote illustrates how Northern abolitionists were extremely critical about anyone owning slaves and even implies that it is a sin to have slaves. The need of balance in the government and insistent extremists lead to many violent outbreaks.

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Geographically the United States was divided with the North being against slavery and the South supporting slavery. This division in the states had a great affect on the decision making in congress

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Southerners believed they had a right to have slaves on their land because they technically owned them as property and going against the Fifth Amendment would be unconstitutional. A few cases, such as the Dred Scott case, tried to counter this statement. In the Dred Scott case, a man named Dred Scott, who lived in Missouri, was taken from his home and moved to Minnesota, which was a free state. He argued that since he was living in a free state, he should be free. However, Roger B. Taney, the Supreme Court Justice of this case, ruled that Congress never had the right to prohibit slavery in any territory and that “free territory” did not really exist.

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In 1857, an African American man named Dred Scott sued for his freedom in the Supreme Court. His owners brought him along on their trips across free states. Dred Scott failed in suing before his case was presented in the Supreme Court. Roger B. Taney was the fifth chief Justice of the United States when he wrote the Dred Scott vs Sandford decision. The Dred Scott vs Sandford case ended with the decision that African Americans, free and enslaved, had no rights and could not become citizens because they were property.

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In the era before the civil war, specifically in the era post-purchase of the Louisiana territories, sectionalism between the Northern and Southern territories spread like wildfire. The Northern states, mainly focusing on commercial and industrial economy, supported the idea of the freedom of slaves. On the other hand, the South, a mainly agricultural and rural society, supported the idea of slaves and slave labor to work in the plantations of white men. These differences would later spark many conflicts (including the Civil War), in which the North was fighting for the freedom of slaves and the South was fighting for the keeping of slaves, especially in new additional territories.

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Dred Scott was a slave who tried to sue his owner because he said since he lived in a free state he was a free man. The north went on to back up the dred scott by using the missouri compromise and that in the constitution the writers meant “we the people” as everybody including slaves, so that gives them the rights of a citizen. The south had many arguments one being the missouri compromise was unconstitutional and congress couldn’t tell states if they could be free or slave and what the can do with their property. Lastly slaves or former slaves for that matter had no rights of a citizen. In document H the fugitive slave act of 1850 it talks about how slave owners have the right to claim their slaves if they escape no matter where they escape to.

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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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1395 Words | 6 Pages

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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Thesis Statement: In South Carolina, it was common for masters to own slaves, abuse them, give them harsh living conditions, and strict rules to follow. In response to the unfair conditions, slaves had uprisings or even ran away. Abraham Lincoln, the President at the time, wanted to end slavery, so he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which stated that slaves were both free in

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Thus, the decision prevented free blacks from advancing in society. The constitution did not apply to them, which consequently developed a lot of confusion and created problems the future free blacks and slaves in the United States. Last of all, even though free blacks were considered as free men, the court failed to recognize them as citizens. This meant that free blacks still did not receive the rights they deserved. The Dred Scott decision was to define the free black’s status and define what rights they did and did not have, since the constitution did not apply to them.

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