In 1857, the Supreme court heard a case concerning a Missouri slave named Dred Scott. Years earlier, Scott has traveled with his owner to Wisconsin, where slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise. Upon his return to Missouri, Scott went to court to win his freedom. He argued that his stay in Wisconsin had made him a free man.
There were nine justices in the Supreme Court in 1857. Five of them, including Chief Justice Roger Taney, were from the South. Four were from the North. The justices had two key questions to decide. First, as a slave, the Court had to decide if Scott was a citizen. Second, the Court had to decide if his time in Wisconsin made him free. Chief Justice Taney wanted to know if the Missouri Compromise was constitutional.
The Decision
By a vote of five to four, the Court had decided that Scott could not sue for his freedom in a federal court because he was not a citizen. No African American, whether slave or free, was an American citizen. The Court also stated that, despite his stay in Wisconsin, Scott was NOT a free man. The reason was simple. The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Since slaves are property and property cannot be taken from people without due process of law (according to the Fifth Amendment), then slaveholders can take their slaves into free territories. Banning slavery in a territory meant that slaveholders were not allowed to take their property with them and that was unconstitutional.
The Reactions
The Dred Scott decision delighted slaveholders. They hoped that the issue of slavery in the territories had been settled—and in their favor. Many northerners, however, were enraged. This decision meant that slavery could continue to spread into territories once considered free.
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