DRED SCOTT V. SANFORD

DRED SCOTT

• AROUND 1800, SCOTT MIGRATED WESTWARD WITH HIS MASTER, PETER BLOW.
• THEY TRAVELLED FROM SCOTT'S HOME STATE OF VIRGINIA TO ALABAMA.
• THEY ALSO TRAVELED IN 1830, TO ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

INFORMATION

• In the spring of 1836, after a stay of two and a half years, Emerson moved to a fort in the Wisconsin Territory. .
• While there, Scott met and married Harriet Robinson, a slave owned by a local justice of the peace.
• Ownership of Harriet was transferred to Emerson.
• Scott offered to buy his freedom from Mrs. Emerson -- then living in St. Louis -- for $300. The offer was refused.
• Scott sought freedom through the courts.

DRED SCOTT

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• Scott went to trial in June of 1847.
• Scott couldn't prove that he and Harriet were owned by Emerson's widow
• The decision of the court was read in March of 1857.
• Chief Justice Roger B. Taney -- a staunch supporter of slavery -- wrote the "majority opinion for the court.
• It stated that because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue.

DRED SCOTT CASE IN NEWSPAPER

RESULTS OF THE DRED SCOTT CASE

• The decision also declared the Missouri Compromise of 1820, legislation which restricted slavery in certain territories, unconstitutional.
• This decision influenced Abraham Lincoln to be nominated into the Republican Party.
• Peter Blow's sons, childhood friends of Scott, had helped pay Scott's legal fees through the years.
• Peter Blow's sons, childhood friends of Scott, had After the Supreme Court's decision, the former master's sons purchased Scott and his wife and set them free

DRED SCOTT

JOHN F.A. SANFORD

• Slave master who wanted to keep Dred Scott a slave.
• Lived in Missouri.
• Owned and was by Dred Scott.