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Why Was Dred Scott Considered Free

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Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney made a pro-slavery ruling in the 1857 Dred Scott Case that deemed blacks were not considered citizens of the United States (History.com, 2016). Dred Scott was a slave owned by John Emerson who had spent lots of his time in Illinois and eventually Wisconsin, which was free territory. Scott felt that since he spent most of his residency in a free territory that he should be considered free. But unfortunately the Supreme Court denied citizenship to black people, setting the stage for their treatment as second class citizens, leading to the Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow laws are statutes and ordinances that were formed to create "separate but equal" facilities for the black and white races of the south(softschools.com, …show more content…

Louis, Missouri by his owners in 1830. In the following years soon after moving he was sold to Dr. John Emerson. With his owner being an army doctor they traveled very frequently, leading Dred Scott into many placed against the idea of slavery. For seven years, he lived in slave free territories. After the death of his owner John Emerson, he was then considered property of Emerson’s wife. Dred Scott reported that Mrs. Emerson beat him and treated him terribly. Hence, why he decided to fight for the freedom that he believe he deserved. Two out of the three justices were pro slavery making it a hard battle to fight for Dred …show more content…

Supreme Court decision in 1857, and hastened the start of the Civil War (americancivilwar.com,nd) . The most ironic moments in American history, Chief Justice Taney swore in Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in 1861. As historian Charles Warren later wrote, Taney elected Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. Not long after that the Civil War, began. Taney remained on the court during the Civil War until his death in 1864. He was described by a diarist of the time, while being one of the saddest figures in Washington. During Dred Scott’s trials many difficult events that ended up concluding with the U.S. Supreme Court decision which accelerated the start of the Civil

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Roger Brooke Taney made history in the 1857 Dred Scott Case by ruling that black slaves were not citizens of the United States. This controversial historical figure died on October 12, 1864, in Washington, D.C. One of Robert’s most famous quotes was "What Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free state of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or 1,000 slaves, in Illinois, or in any other free state. "What Robert is saying is that a master of a slave can do whatever he/she wants with that slave. By the time Roger B Taney became Chief Justice, Taney had become a staunch supporter of slavery, even though he had manumitted eleven slaves he inherited as a young man and made anti-slavery statements when serving as defense

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His goal by doing this was to officially earn his and his family’s freedom and leave the Emerson family. Scott’s lawyers argued that by moving him to a free state and by becoming a free man there, that he would always be a free man now. Scott had reason to believe that he would win the case because similar cases had gone through the Supreme Court before and they had ruled in the slave, or former slave’s

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To first understand why Mr. Dred Scott decided to sue for his freedom, we have to understand the prelude to his story. Even before Dred Scott was born a case in London was buzzing that would emancipate slaves and some historians believe the case contributed to increasing colonial support for separatism in the Thirteen Colonies of British North America, by parties on both sides of the slavery question who wanted to establish independent government and law (Britannica). The case was Somerset v. Stewart and it has been deemed one of the most important legal actions in the history of the antislavery movement (Weiner 71). The facts of the case were that James Somerset was a slave of Charles Stewart, an officer in the British colony of Boston in

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Annotated Timeline Dred Scott January 1799 -1832; Dred Scott’s birth and early life Samuel Dred Scott was born into slavery and was owned by his master at the time Peter Blow and his wife Elizabeth, who all lived in Southampton County, Virginia. His birth date and details are roughly known and estimated. The Blows’ family and all other slaves that he owned including Scott, moved to Alabama where Scott works in a cotton plantation for 12 years. The Blows’ relocated to St. Louis Missouri giving up on farming and Dred Scott is then sold to Dr. John Emerson who was a surgeon in the United States Army. December 1833- 1843; Dred Scott New Master – Dr. John Emerson Dr. Emerson and Scott relocated from the Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis Missouri to Fort Armstrong, Illinois.

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The Dred Scott Decision made the Civil War unavoidable because of the treatment of African Americans regarding their equality and opportunity. Dred Scott was a slave in Virginia who tried to sue for his freedom in court. The case eventually went to the Supreme Court level, where the justices found that, as a slave, Dred Scott was property that had none of the legal rights of that of a white man. The Northerners hated this decision because it meant that slavery could spread into all territories. This inflamed tensions as the Northerners felt that the South was trying to expand slavery into the free states and would be able to do so.

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Have you ever heard of Dred Scott?He was a brave african american , he sued his owner for his freedom in 1857.Dred Scott was an example to other slaves to stand up for their freedom. First of , Dred Scott 's early life . Born in Virginia in 1799 as a slave of the peter Bowl family . He was a slave because he was in a slave state . After Bows moved to St.Louis Dred was sold to Dr.John Emerson.

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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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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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“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”, says Maya Angelou putting in the spotlight the judgment of people based on how they look. The cases of Dred Scott vs. Sanford, Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Loving vs. Virginia all attempt to prove this point during the civil rights movement. These cases also make apparent the segregation of blacks in the court system. In 1864, the question of having freedom was brought into the courtroom by Dred and Harriet Scott in St. Louis City. Dred and Harriet Scott had been held captive in free territory and then brought back to a slave state.

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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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In this case, Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) Dred Scott was an African American slave at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court pivotal Dred Scott decision of (1857). Dred Scott was born in 1799 in Southampton county, Virginia, U.S. and he died September 17, 1858, in St. Louis, Missouri. The ruling rejected Scottś for emancipation which he based on his temporary residence in a free state and territory, in which slavery was prohibited, and struck down the Missouri Compromise (1820), thereby making slavery legal in all U.S. territories. Dred Scott was born in the United States as a slave.

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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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In conclusion, I believe the implications of the Dred Scott decision of 1865 was for the status of free blacks in the United States. Dred Scott, the African American slave fought for his freedom in Illinois, but was unsuccessful. The court’s decision rose questions and greatly impacted the status of free blacks. The slaves and the free blacks did not apply to the constitution, and were not recognized as citizens, which rose questions as to what rights they had and did not

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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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