LAD/Blog #19: The Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott V. Sanford
The Dred Scott case began in 1847.  The case was later taken to the Supreme Court in 1857.  Scott was a slave in the South, mistreated and unable to read.  During his life he married another slave, Harriet Robinson, and had two children.  His owner, John Emerson, was married to Irene Sanford.  When Emerson died, Scott and his family were under the control of Sanford, who often lent them out to other families if she did not have a currently use for them.  The court case was created when Scott and his family filed suit against Sanford for their freedom in 1846.  He had lived in free territories before but had never tried to be completely free, and felt that it was about time he earned his freedom.  With no money or education, it was fairly hard for Scott to achieve this on his own, but he thankfully had the support of his first (previous) owner.  The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that a slave, even in a free state or non-slave territory, would still not be deserving of freedom or citizenship.  Besides this, the Supreme Court also ruled that the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which stated that territories west of Missouri and north of 36°30' latitude line were free states, was now unconstitutional.  This decision pushed the US even further towards civil war, bring lots of debates and controversy.  Chief Justice Roger Taney, in making his decision, ignored the written guidelines of the Constitution, and many people believed that he was biased in his ruling and beliefs about African American citizenship.  Nevertheless, Taney stuck to his opinions that a slave remained a slave even in free territories, and that they would never be citizens of the United States. 

The Supreme Court cases Dred Scott V. Sanford and Plessy V. Ferguson were very similar.  Both cases dealt with issues of unequal rights.  Scott fought for his freedom from slavery, but unfortunately did not receive it due to Roger Taney's ruling.  The issue of slavery remained in the US for years to come, bringing on the Civil War and many smaller conflicts as well.  In Plessy V. Ferguson, the idea of "separate but equal" was created, as discrimination grew more prominent in the US.  However, the similarity lies within the reality, that things indeed were separate for white and black people, but they were not equal at all.  Both of these cases were extremely controversial, and revolved around issues regarding civil liberties and rights.