Why Is Dred Scott Vs Sanford Important

1. Dred Scott v Sanford (March 6th 1857)
Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia, but had lived a lot of his life in Alabama, where he worked as a slave. In 1830, Scott’s master, Peter Blow moved to Illinois, a free state, sold Scott to a new master, John Emerson, and lived there for a few years. Scott’s services were leased out under Emerson, who was essentially bringing slavery into the Free State. Scott also had a daughter born in free territory, which made his daughter a free person under federal and state laws. Scott would be unable to purchase his family’s freedom in the coming years after Emerson’s death, which forced him to take legal action in June of 1847 against his new owner Eliza Sanford who was still leasing the Scotts out as
Initially, the district courts ruled in favor of the Board of Education, saying that the schools are equal; therefore, the segregation was acceptable. The Supreme Court would combine 5 different cases with the same question of” Is segregation legal?” under the 14th Amendment. After a long time in the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that “separate but equal” as ruled in Plessy v Ferguson was unconstitutional, and that all schools must be integrated. This decision is important in that it ended the racial segregation seen in schools since Plessy v. Ferguson and was a major step in gaining the rightful equality for African Americans. This also effectively began the Civil Rights Movement in the attempt to get true equality for African Americans, which would eventually occur in 1964, and with that, was one of the first steps in ending the racial precedent that had been set for 2 centuries as white being superior to
The following year, the bank opened in Baltimore, Maryland. Maryland then passed an act to tax all banks in the state, which was intended to include the federal bank branch opened in 1817. The Federal Bank refused to pay the bill, which would trigger a lawsuit against the bank leading to a ruling of the Maryland Court of Appeals stating that the bank is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of the United States by unanimous decision however ruled that the bank was constitutional by addressing that the Constitution says that Congress can create laws that are necessary and proper to seek an objective within the powers of Congress, and subsequently voided the tax. This case is important because it opened up a way for the federal government to use implied powers, like the creation of a bank, to carry out its duties which expands the powers of the Federal Government. This case is also a case that cites the Supremacy Clause, as used in Ableman v Booth (1869). The Federal Bank is also extremely important today, as it issues a unified currency, and regulates how much money is in circulation for