Dred Scott Decision Essay

The Dred Scott Decision The Dread Scott decision will forever be remembered as one of the worst decisions made by the Justices of the Supreme Court in United States’ history. The significance of the Dread Scott decision is the importance of the justices in the Supreme Court to practice judicial restraint, and what the consequences are when judicial restraint is abandoned for political gain. It is also a prime example of the justices interpreting the constitution in a way that benefits their own agendas. This poor decision had extreme consequences that shook an already divided nation, and led the country to the Civil War. Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri, which had been a slave state since the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820.
His owner was John Emerson, an army surgeon who, in 1836, moved from Missouri to Fort Armstrong in Illinois. He took Dred Scott with him as his slave. Then, they moved to Fort Snelling in Wisconsin territory. This is where Dred Scott married Harriet Robinson, who was also a slave; they had two daughters. In 1840, Emerson and the Scotts returned to St. Louis, Missouri; three years later, Emerson died, and the Scotts remained the slaves of Emerson’s widow. After failed attempts to buy his freedom from Mrs.
Emerson, Scott began his fight for his family’s freedom and filed a lawsuit against Mrs. Emerson in 1846. The grounds for suit against Mrs. Emerson were false imprisonment since they lived in the free states of Illinois and the Wisconsin territory where slavery was banned. There were many other cases similar to this, in the state of Missouri, in which the slaves won their suit under the same circumstances, and were granted their freedom. In 1852, after a very long legal battle, the Scott’s lost their case. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Emerson transferred the Scotts’ ownership to her brother, John Sanford. This transfer was important in getting the Dred Scott case to the Supreme Court because Sanford lived in New York. And the constitution states that suits between citizens of different states must be tried in the federal
courts. Scott vs. Sanford made its way to the Supreme Court in 1856, where the Justices abandoned judicial restraint for political gain. Chief Justice Taney had ulterior motives since the beginning when he decided to hear the case. He used the case to address the slavery issue and the Missouri Compromise of 1820. His hopes were to settle tensions between the North and the South. Seven out of the nine justices were democrats and in favor of the South; they were pro-slavery. The case was no longer, as it should have been, about Dred Scott’s and his family’s freedom; it became a case about the politics of slavery. The decision, or official opinion, came in two parts; Chief Justice Taney announced it on March 6, 1857.
The first part stated that African slaves, or Negros, were in fact not citizens of the United States, according to the Justices’ racial interpretation of the United States Constitution, and, therefore, could not sue in court. Part two stated that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional based on the opinion that slaves were property and the 5th amendment. It states that no persons shall, ”be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” This meant that, in the Justices’ opinion, Dred Scott had never become a free man during his residence in the free states; therefore, he was still a
slave. The already divided nation was torn even further apart by the verdict. The South rejoiced, while the North was in an uproar. Not only did this decision violate the civil rights of Negros, the Justices of the Supreme Court have declared that the laws prohibiting slavery in the free territories as unconstitutional. This meant that slavery was legal in non-slave states. Consequently, there was no longer any hope of compromise between the North and South, and citizens began to realize that war would be the only answer because, as Lincoln said, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Chief Justice Taney could have never predicted the ramifications of his actions. This poor decision lead to the Civil War, instead of settling, once and for all, the issue of slavery. The Civil War resulted in the 13th amendment, which abolish slavery. Shortly thereafter, in 1866, the Dred Scott decision was overturned and he was declared a free man. The Civil Rights Act was also passed in the same year, which stated that all citizens were protected by the law including African-Americans.

Annotated Bibliography

Herda, D. J.. The Dred Scott case: slavery and citizenship. Rev. ed. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2011.

Lukes, Bonnie L.. The Dred Scott decision. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1997.

Supreme Court decisions that changed the nation. DVD. Directed by Associates Guided. Mount Kisco, N.Y.: Guidance Associates, 1986.