Dred Scott Case: Long Road To Freedom

Dred Scott v Sanford Dred Scott was born a slave approximately around 1795 in Virgina and was owned by the Blow family. The Blow’s are a family of farmers that moved to Missouri from Virginia. This is where Scott was sold to a Dr. John Emerson which was the United States Army Surgeon. Shortly after being sold to the Emerson family, is when all these lawsuit conflicts arose. However, Dred Scott was able to marry Harriet Robinson and have his first daughter with her, Eliza Scott, in 1838 in a free territory. Once Dr. Emerson passed away, the Scott family was under Eliza Emerson’s—wife of John Emerson— ownership. The case that was later entitled Scott V. Sanford first went to trial in 1847. The Dred Scott Case was one of the most important events that happened in history
Since Dr. Emerson was a surgeon for the United States army, it required him to move around frequently in which he took his slaves along with him. At the time there was a law under the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that “once free, always free” which meant “if a slave, whether white or black, had ever become free for any reason, such as living for a time in a free territory, he was essentially emancipated"(Kohlenberger 1). To be emancipated means to be free from any legal restriction. Then there is the question: Why was Dred Scott not granted his freedom immediately? He was most likely not aware of this law at the time which takes us back to Learning to Read by Frederick Douglass and how “education and slavery were incompatible with each other” (Douglass 347). Slaves have all the right to know about laws that provide a chance to freedom for them however they are unfortunately not given the opportunity to receive that sort of education and awareness. April 6, 1846 Dred and Harriet Scott filed a petition for their freedom, separately since slave marriages were not recognized at the