Friday, July 20, 2007

The Dred Scott Case

From the lectures in class we learned about the 1857 Dred Scott case. Dred Scott was a slave who fought for his freedom in front of the Supreme Court, but was denied. Scott’s argued that he had lived as a slave with his owner in territories where slavery was illegalj and should therefore be set free. The Supreme Court voted 7 to 2 against Dred Scott. Their decision was based on the fact that Scott owned no property and was not a citizen of the U.S. so he was therefore not legally entitled to bring a suit to the Supreme Court.

I was interested to learn of the repercussions of this court case. As a result of the court’s decision the Missouri Compromise was made void. It was also asserted that any person descended from black Africans (whether slave or free) is not a citizen of the United States. The court's decision also nationalized slavery which went against the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and voided the Kansas Nebraska Act. I was surprised to hear about the many backlashes that took place as a result of the Dred Scott case.

3 comments:

Monica Bissonnette said...

I too find it ironic that this case cause so many problems down the road. It almost seems unfair that because of this case they felt the need to take all of the other compromises and acts that had been established.

Tai Edwards said...

Great points Nina. After the Supreme Court voided much of the "compromising" that had gone on in Congress, do you think war was now inevitable? Or was there still a way for the slavery conflict to be dealt with through diplomacy?

Jessica said...

I also found this case very interesting to learn about. It is unfair that he was blamed for not owning his own land but the men blaming him are the reason for slavery. Its like starving someone them punishing them for stealing food!