Pols 1
Yusta
5/6/14
The Dred Scott Decision Dred Scott was an African American man born into slavery around 1800. He wanted what all enslaved people wanted. He wanted his freedom. Dred Scott vs. Stanford was a landmark Supreme court case that was a major player in the secession of the southern states. The bravery, courage and determination of Dred Scott was one of the the first steps in a long road to freedom. Around 1820, during the time of the Missouri compromise, Dred Scott's owner Peter Blow took him to the newly formed slave state of Missouri. He was then sold to John Emerson, and was taken to Illinois. Which came into the Union in 1819 as a free state. Dred Scott was a slave in the free state for a short time, but then he was moved again to the Wisconsin Territory. According to the Missouri compromise, that territory also fell under the free land. In 1837 Emerson went back to Louisiana and left Dred Scott in the Wisconsin Territory. Emerson's wife Eliza leased out Dred Scott in Wisconsin, then later brought him back to Louisiana and then eventually to Missouri. Soon after, Dred Scott sued for his freedom in the Missouri State court case of Scott vs. Emerson. The court ruled that he would still have to be a slave because he was in a slave state. Eventually, He took his case to the supreme court. At this time his new owner was John Sandford, Eliza's brother. Thus, the Supreme Court case had began. Roger Taney was the Chief Justice at the time. Scott was only able to take his case to the Supreme Court because in article 3 section 2 of the Constitution it says that if you are suing a citizen of another state, it can become a federal case. There were some issues with the case because there had never been one like it in the supreme court before. People wondered if congress had the power to regulate slavery in the new and unorganized territories. There were no previous rules about