Preview

Why Did Dred Scotts Gain Their Freedom?

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
193 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Did Dred Scotts Gain Their Freedom?
Dred Scott was a African American slave born in Virginia in the year 1800. In the 1830s Scott and Harriet Robinson lived in Fort Snelling in the 1830s working as free people as slavery was outlawed in the area. He lived there with an army surgeon named Emerson and was paid an independent salary. When Emerson was reassigned to the south they Scotts moved to fort Jesup in Louisiana. But soon returned to Fort snelling. In 1846 the Scotts decided to sue for their freedom because they were denied the optioned to buy it by Emerson's widow. In 1853 they filed in federal court. After Dred was freed in St. Louis circuit court in 1857, the supreme court made a decision based on the Dred Scott case stating that African Americans were not citizens and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Facts: This lawsuit involves Dred Scott, an African American slave and his owner due to the passing of his previous owner Dr. Emerson, John F. A. Sanford. John F.A Sanford is the brother to the wife of Dr. Emerson. Dred Scott sued for his freedom in the Missouri Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis on April 6, 1846 . Dred Scott’s legal suit is for assault and false imprisonment: “A slave could be punished and kept as property, but a free person could not.”…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    On March 6, 1857, Justice Taney stated that Dred Scott had no right to bring a law suit in Federal Court, because the Constitution only afforded that right to U.S. citizens. Since Scott was a slave, he was not a citizen. He went…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It started when the court decided that all blacks could never become citizens of the United States. The people in the case was Dred Scott a slave who lived in Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin before moving to Missouri the slave state…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Did black men gain their freedom with the 13th amendment? The 13th constitutional amendment was ratified in 1886 and stated “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment”. After the Civil War slavery was not allowed no more in the United States. The 13th amendment was meant to protect the people from being enslaved once again.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This article talks about the significance and background of the Dred Scott case. In fact this actually hurt the cause of anti-slavery because now, slavery could spread into the free states. Now, the free states laws that used to create this safe haven for the fugitive slaves, now no longer have any power because the Constitution, debatably the strongest document the United States has, contradicts any law protecting slaves. This is because the United States Constitution protects all property of the individual, and slaves to the southern people in the 1850’s thought of slaves as property.…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The process began in 1846: Scott lost in his initial suit in a local St. Louis district court, but he won in a second trial, only to have that decision overturned by the Missouri State Supreme Court. With support from local abolitionists, Scott filed another suit in federal court in 1854, against John Sanford, the widow Emerson's brother and executor of his estate. When that case was decided in favor of Sanford, that Scott turned to the U.S. Supreme Court.…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dred Scott Vs Sanford

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Supreme Court first heard the case of Dred Scott vs. Sanford in 1857. Dred Scott was a slave who lived in Missouri with his owner. His owner took him to Illinois and Minnesota, two states that prohibited slavery. After the owner died, Scott proclaimed himself a free man and his family free due to the fact that he had resided on “free soil” for several years and that his four children had also been born on “free soil”. He sued the man’s widow and won and lost his case in several courts over an 11 year period. At this point in history, the Missouri Compromise had been in effect for about 40 years, but was never officially ruled on by the Supreme Court. Many Southerners were hoping that the Compromise be ruled unconstitutional due to the…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dred Scott Case

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the june of 1847 Dred Scott went to court to get his freedom. His case failed because he couldn’t prove Mrs Emerson owned him. If Emerson’s Widow did not own him then now person owned Dred Scott. If no person owned Dred Scott the by definition Scott should have been declared a free man, The following year the Missouri Supreme Court stepped in to this situation. They decided it should be retried. The St Louis Circuit Court ruled that Scott and his family were free.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1857, Dred Scott lost his case proving that he should be free because he had been held as a slave while living in a free state. The Court ruled that his petition couldn’t be seen because he did not own property. But it went further, to state that even though he had been taken by his 'owner' into a free state, he was still a slave because slaves were to be considered property of their owners. This decision furthered the cause of abolitionists as they increased their efforts to fight against slavery.…

    • 537 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, the Supreme Court decided the African people, whether free or slave, were not considered American citizens, and didn’t have the right to sue someone in federal court. During this case, the Court ruled that Congress didn’t have the power to ban slavery in territories. They also declared that the rights of slaveowners were protected by the Fifth Amendment in the Constitution. This is because slaves in their times were not considered people, they were considered as property.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hello there, I’m Dred Scott. an African American slave.! I’m tired of it… But no need to be sad, I have a Great story to tell you!…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Slavery was at the root of the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford. Dred Scott sued his master to obtain freedom for himself and his family. His argument was that he had lived in a territory where slavery was illegal; therefore he should be considered a free man. Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia around 1800. Scott and his family were slaves owned by Peter Blow and his family. He moved to St. Louis with them in 1830 and was sold to John Emerson, a military doctor. They went to Illinois and the Wisconsin territory where the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery. Dred Scott married and had two daughters. John Emerson married Irene Sanford. In 1842, they all returned to St. Louis, Missouri. John Emerson died the next year. In 1846, Scotts sued Irene Emerson for their freedom. The Scott’s stay in free territories gave them the ability to sue for their freedom. However, they did not do this while they were living there (Dred Scott’s Fight).…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I will address the significance that this piece of work ha on the abolitionist movement at the time that this book was written. I personally think that it inspired a slave to flee to freedom and liberty. Back then you had white and black people dedicated to ending slavery. The underground railroad played a huge part in the success in the freeing of slaves however Frederick Douglass never approved of the underground railroad because those good men and women left themselves open to bloody persecution.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    James Buchanan

    • 537 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Northerners wanted to keep the union together and that was their main goal. The Dred Scott court case involved a slave, Dred Scott suing for his freedom. The decision was made two days after Buchanan’s inauguration that Scott could not sue for his freedom because slaves were property. This decision enraged Northerners. The Radical abolitionist John Brown took over Harper’s ferry and attacked slave owners; this showed the hatred of slavery in the…

    • 537 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays