LAD/Blog #19: The Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott was born into slavery. He was later sold to the Emerson family due to financial problems of his original owners. The Emerson family brought Dred Scott with them to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was considered illegal. During this time he married and had two children. After his owner died, the owner's wife hired out the entire Scott family to work for others. In April of 1846, Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet, filed suit against Irene Emerson, his owner's widow, for their freedom. Dred Scott's case relates to the Missouri Compromise because Taney rules that the Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional. Therefore Dred Scott was never free to begin with according to Taney.Taney's decision was that Dred Scott's case should not have reached the Supreme Court because he claimed that Dred Scott only had state citizenship and not national citizenship. Therefor Dred Scott did not have the right to sue the federal court because he was not a U.S. citizen. Taney also said that once Scott and his family returned to Missouri his status depended on local law.


During the Vietnam War the U.S. had many protests going on because many people were opposed to our involvement in the war, just like after the Dred Scott decision where tensions rose which further divided the country at the time.

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