How Did The Dred Scott Trial Impact The United States?

Dred Scott, one of the most famous and iconic figures in American history, impacted the United Sates by causing awareness and a voice to not only the free black people living during that time, but slaves as well. Other than Marbury v. Madison case, the Dred Scott Trial declared a federal law unconstitutional, prior to the civil war. The case brought to light a topic that would soon explode-slavery. Many scholars believe that it is what brought the United States closer to the civil war and the case actually inspired the Republican party to rise. Dred Scott’s case was controversial because a slave in his time period had never gone to Scott’s extent to fight for his freedom and it inspired not only slaves, but those who advocated to end slavery

Within the United States supreme court, seven out of the nine judges either supported slavery or had owned slaves previously, so Dred Scott was entering a biased and unfair trial to begin with. On March 6, 1857, The decision for the Dred Scott v. Sanford case was heard by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who stated that slaves were not citizens of the United States, and "... They had no rights which the white man was bound to respect". ( Cite Source) He also explained how Scott was never free when he lived in the free territories and that congress was prohibited to have any ruling over slavery, which made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional . Everything that the Scotts fought for was over, and they were to remain enslaved. This made the north become enraged, while the south rejoiced with the decision, which led it to the brink of the civil

Lincoln stated in his speech,” But we think the Dred Scott decision is erroneous. We know the court that made it, has often over-ruled its own decisions, and we shall do what we can to have it to over-rule this. We offer no resistance to it . . .” (Lincoln, Abraham). This gave the republicans some reinforcement to continue their fight to end slavery. Having lost the battle for his freedom, Scott had no idea what a powerful message and movement his trial would spark. However, the Scotts future would not remain dark forever, because after the trial ended John Sanford died. This prompted Dr. Chaffee, Irene’s husband, to transfer the ownership of the Scott’s to the Blow family. Dr. Chaffee, being against slavery, did not want to own the Scotts and did not want to be part of the slavery system within the United