Dred Scott Review

Dred Scott Review

By Valerie Pitts

​Famous Court Case

Scott-v- Sandford

​Scott was born sometime around the turn of the 19th century, in Southampton County, Virginia. Legend has it that his name was Sam, but when his elder brother died, he adopted his name instead. His parents were slaves, but it is uncertain whether the Blow family owned them at his birth or thereafter.

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​Peter Blow and his family relocated first to Huntsville, Alabama, and then to St. Louis Missouri. After Peter Blow's death, in the early 1830s, Scott was sold to a U.S. Army doctor, John Emerson.

​In 1836, Scott fell in love with a slave of another army doctor, 19-year-old Harriett Robinson, and her ownership was transferred over to Dr. Emerson when they were wed.

​In 1840 The family returned to St. Louis . By this time Missouri Law stated that an enslaved person who relocated to a free state or territory were considered free and could not be re-enslaved

​In the ensuing years, Dr. Emerson traveled to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territories, both of which prohibited slavery. When Emerson died in 1846, Scott tried to buy freedom for himself and his family from Emerson's widow, but she refused.