dred scott

Dred Scott Case Overview

• Background of Dred Scott:

  • Dred Scott was an African American man from Missouri.

  • Spent ten years in various courts suing for freedom, aided by abolitionist lawyers.

  • Scott claimed to be a free citizen of Missouri, arguing his freedom due to living in Illinois and Wisconsin, both free regions.

Supreme Court Ruling

• Decision Details:

  • Supreme Court ruled against Scott in a 7-2 decision in 1857.

  • President-elect Buchanan intervened to influence the vote, hoping to show bipartisanship.

  • Chief Justice Roger B. Taney authored the ruling, bringing in significant implications about race and citizenship.

• Taney's Reasoning:

  • Central question: Can the descendants of slaves become citizens under the U.S. Constitution?

  • Taney declared that no black American, whether enslaved or free, could be considered a citizen, thereby denying them rights and privileges defined in the Constitution.

  • Freedom does not equate to citizenship; even the right to vote, held by some black men in Northern states, did not imply citizenship.

Concept of Citizenship

• State vs. National Citizenship:

  • Taney argued that states could not grant national citizenship to freed blacks, emphasizing a distinction between state and national membership.

  • A free black individual might be a citizen of a state (e.g., Massachusetts) but not a citizen of the United States as a whole.

• Rights of Citizens:

  • According to Taney, only white Americans held the true status of U.S. citizens, thereby granting them rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

  • Citizens migrating to territories retain property rights under the Constitution.

Implications of the Ruling

• Slavery as National:

  • Taney’s ruling implied that slave property rights extended to all states, effectively declaring the entire nation as potential slave territory.

  • Hypothetical scenario: A Southern slaveholder could bring slaves to a free state like Massachusetts, and his slave property would remain valid.

Social and Economic Context

• Panic of 1857:

  • Financial crisis that predominantly affected the North, while the South remained insulated due to high cotton prices.

  • Southern claims of cotton and slave labor saving the nation during economic turmoil.

Political Climate

• Anti-Slavery Response:

  • The Dred Scott case, along with the Fugitive Slave Act and Kansas-Nebraska Act, rolled back the notion of free territory.

  • Violence during the Bleeding Kansas conflict highlighted tensions between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.

  • Republicans interpreted the Southern and Democratic alliance as a conspiracy termed the "slave power."

  • This "slave power" was seen as a threat to enslave not only African Americans but also jeopardizing the freedoms of other citizens.