Who was Dred Scott?

Answer 1

Dred Scott was a slave who tried unsuccessfully to sue for his freedom. It was stated in his court case, that he should be a free man when his master took him from a slave state to a free state. The Supreme Court, in 1857, eventually had the final ruling and said that he was a slave no matter where he was in U.S. They did not consider him a citizen. This dissolved the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed slavery in free territories.

Answer 2

He sued for his freedom



During the 1850s Southerners often criticized the federal government for treating them unfairly. In 1857, however, the Supreme Court took their side on the question of slavery and pushed the North and South further apart.

In the 1830s an army doctor in Missouri bought an enslaved man, Dred Scott. The doctor then moved with his household to Illinois, a free state, and next to Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise. Later the family returned to Missouri, where the doctor died. In 1846 Dred Scott decided the sue for freedom for himself and his family. He claimed that living in free territory had made him a free person.

With the help of antislavery lawyers, Scott's case eventually reached the Supreme Court. many of the justices, however, favored slavery. The Court voted 7 to 2 against him. On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (TAW-nee) delivered an opinion that upheld the Southern view that Scott had no right to sue in a federal court. The Court ruled against Scott because the founders of the United States did not intend for African Americans to be citizens. In addition, Scott's travels to free territory had not affected his status as a slave. Slaves were property, said Taney, and the Fifth Amendment prohibited Congress from taking property without "due process of law." He also said that the Missouri Compromise ban on slavery north of the 36°30' line was unconstitutional because Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories. In effect, the decision meant that the Constitution protected slavery. Abolishing slavery would require a constitutional amendment.

Rather than settling the issue, the Dred Scott decision aroused bitterness among the abolitionists and increased tensions between the North and South. Many Southerners now happily considered all territories open to slavery. Stunned Northerners vowed to fight the decision.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott

Here's an article about him from Wikipedia.

He did sue, but lost because he didn't own anything, therefore it was ruled he could not sue in federal court. It's pretty interesting.

Answer 4

A slave who sued for his freedom in 1856.