Blog #19: The Dred Scott Decision

The Dred Scott Decision was an incredibly important supreme court ruling concerning the rights of slaves. Dred Scott was a slave that was born in Virginia and bought by John Emerson, a military surgeon. Scott accompanied Emerson to Illinois and the Wincosin Territory which were both free states because of the missouri compromise of 1820.  During this time. Dred Scott married Harriet Robinson and later had 2 children while John Emerson married Irene Sandford while in St. Louis. The trouble came when John Emerson died and Irene tried to hire out the Scotts to work for her and other families. Dred Scott sued for his freedom because the Scotts had been living in free states for the past 9 years but had made no attempt to end their servitude and now that Scotts original owner had died, Dred Scott believed he should now be free. Despite the reasonable causes for trying to get his freedom, Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled with Sandford and brought about into question the ability for Dred Scott to even be allowed to sue. Taney declared that even though some states grant slaves citizenship, this does not pertain to national citizenship which meant Dred Scott was not allowed to sue in the first place. This ruling had a major impact because it deemed the Missouri compromise of 1820 unconstitutional.

Plessy v Furguson was another supreme court ruling that had a large impact on the rights of slaves as it ruled seperate but equal was constitutional which became the law of the land for a long time.