Dred Scott vs Sanford The Dred Scott vs Sanford case was a very pivotal moment in U.S. history for many reasons. After doing some research, I got a better understanding of the constitutional issues, a logical interpretation, the significance and lastly a commentary of my opinion of the final ruling. The first topic is the constitutional issues. The case had been brought before the court by Dred Scott, a slave who had lived with his owner in a free state before returning to the slave state of Missouri. Scott argued that his time spent in these free locations entitled him to his freedom. One problem was that he went to the courts when he was in a slave state. The court basically told him that no African american, freed or slave, could claim …show more content…
Based on the supreme court, like the country itself, they were was split along sectional lines. One justice maintained that the matter belonged back in the state courts. Justices argued that Scott should be freed under the terms of the Missouri Compromise, but Conservative justices wanted to deny freedom to Scott and rule the Compromise unconstitutional. There were many important steps in the case. In the end the Court was unable to reach a single decision, but the positions taken by the Chief Justice, a former slave owner, prevailed in the end. Dred had no standing because the court system claimed he wasn't a citizen, meaning he had no right to fight for anything. These rulings undermined the government and led the civil war even closer. The last is my opinion of the ruling. To sum this up, I feel like it was an extremely bad ruling. It undermined the new government and basically made it illegal. Although it was made political tensions rise and lead to war, it was bad for African Americans too. Instead of being just free states here was a mix of slave and free states. This caused multiple problems. In the time period this happened, it didn't seem like the biggest deal since slavery was so apparent. I feel like the slave states knew what they were doing was wrong, but just didn't care because they had free laborers to make themselves rich. It took a war to understand what was going