Dred Scott v. Stanford (1857)

Scott v. Sanford

The Significance of the Ruling

• The ruling of Dred Scott V. Sanford had a considerable affect on society, particularity the African American population.
• Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that the supreme court couldn't take his case, as he had been a slave and his ancestors were imported into the US as slaves.
• Scott was considered property in court.
• Therefore, Scott and all the other "imported" African Americans were not considered citizens of the U.S. Regardless if they were free or not.
• This meant that an entire race cold not be considered citizens and therefore could not even file a lawsuit.

• Scott filed another lawsuit in a federal circuit court.
• But the jury ruled that Scott couldn't sue in federal court because he had already been deemed a slave under Missouri Law.
• Scott then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reviewed the case in 1856.
• The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African decent whether free or slave were not American citizens & couldn't sue in Federal Court.
• The Supreme Court also ruled that congress couldn't ban slavery in the U.S.
• In the process the also declared that the slave owners were protected by the 5th amendment because slaves were not considered people, we were property.
• Because of Dred's color he was deemed as a non-citizen of the USA.

Results

Sanfords Side

• After the Supreme Court's decision, the former master's sons purchased Scott and his wife and set them free.

• Dred Scott died nine months later.

• Sanford argued that a federal court couldn't hear Scott's case because he was a slave in the past and could only hear cases brought by U.S. citizens.
• Being a free slave didn't give him the status of an American citizen because he was black.
• Sanford also argued that U.S citizens are only those who were members of the political community' at the time the constitutions were created, a long with those individuals heirs and slaves were not apart of this community.
• Another argument Sandford made against Scott was that the court view slaves as "property" and the fifth amendment forbids congress from taking property away from individuals without compensation.

The Beginning

Core

• Then, in 1846 after saving money up for months, Dred Scott asked Mrs. Emerson if he could buy his families freedom, but she refused.
• Scott then sued Mrs. Emerson in the state court saying he was was legally free because he and his family lived on territory where slavery was abolished.
• In 1850, the state court declared that Dred Scott was a free man.
• But the money that Scott had, had been withheld pending on the resolution of his case.
• During that time Mrs. Emerson re-married and left her brother, John Sanford to deal with her unfinished business.
• Mr. Sanford was unwilling to pay back dues owed to Mr. Scott and appealed the decision to the Missouri Supreme Court.
• The court overruled the lower courts decision and ruled in favor of Sanford.

• In 1833 Dr. John Emerson purchased Dred Scott as a slave.
• He moved Scott to a base in Wisconsin where Slavery was banned.
• He lived there for quite some time then in 1840 Scott, his wife, and children moved to Louisiana, and then to St.Louis, Missouri with his slave master.
• Then in 1843 Dr. John Emerson died and left his slaves with his wife, Eliza Irene Sanford.

Dred Scott

• Dred Scott was born in 1795 in Southampton County, Virginia.
• He was born a slave to the Peter Blow family.
• In 1836 he met a teen-aged slave named Harriet Robinson whose master was Major Lawrence Taliaferro.
• Taliaferro allowed Scott and Robinson to marry and transferred his ownership of Robinson to Dr. Emerson so the couple could be together.
• Several years later, Harriet gave birth to their first child, Eliza.
• In 1840, they had another daughter named Lizzie.
• They had two sons, but neither survived past infancy