Dred Scott
And The case for freedom
By: Nate Widitor
Slave Life
Dred Scott was born as a slave in
Virginia in 1795, and sold to his owner,
Peter Blow, a Missouri plantation owner
After Peter Blow’s death in 1832, Scott
was transferred to the ownership of Dr.
John Emerson, an army surgeon
Emerson brought Scott back with him
to the free State of Illinois
Slave Life Cont…
In 1836, after two years in Illinois, Scott was
brought with Dr.Emerson to a fort in
Wisconsin, also a free territory
Scott never made a claim to freedom in these
free states, either unaware of his rights or
happy with his situation there
After Scott was brought back to Missouri,
Emerson died in 1843, leaving Scott to be
hired by Emerson’s widow to an army captain
Suing for Freedom
 No longer content with his
situation, he offered to buy his
freedom for 300 dollars, an offer
refused
 Scott believed that the years he
spent in the free states of Wisconsin
and Illinois made him a free man,
seeing as this was often the way that
things worked in the region
 In 1847, Scott lost his court case
due to the fact that he couldn’t
prove he was actually owned by
Dred Scot V. Sanford
 After losing his case in the United
States Circuit Court of Missouri in
1854, Scott sought to bring his case
to the U.S. Supreme Court
 Representing the Defence, was
Mrs.Emerson’s brother John
Sanford, from New York
 Of the nine Supreme court Justices
of 1854, 7 had been appointed by proslavery presidents and 5 were from
families owning slaves
Dred Scott V. Sanford
 A previous decision had given States
the sole right to determine the
status of their inhabitants
 What the case broke down to was:
whether The Court had the ability to
argue the case (considering the
powers of the states), and whether
Scott was actually a citizen
Outcome and Impact
 In 1857, The United States Supreme Court
ruled that no slave or descendent of a slave
could ever be, or ever was a citizen
 Thus, Scott had no right to sue in federal
court
 Additionally, the Missouri compromise
(restricting slavery in certain territory) of
1820 was ruled unconstitutional
Outcome and Impact
 The decision pleased many southerners, but
infuriated the North
 The case was a major reason for the Election
of anti-slavery candidate Abraham Lincoln,
and the following secession of the southern
states
 The case had a profound impact on America,
and is commonly know as one of the most
infamous cases in Supreme Court History
Bibliography
• http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/dred_
scott.html
• http://libraries.wustl.edu/vlib/dredscot
t/new_exhibits/ds01.htmll
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p
2932.html
• http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resour
ces/africanamerican/scott/scott.asp