PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Buchanan took office on March 4th, 1857. Two days later the Supreme Court had a decision about slavery and the territories shook the nation.
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American owned by an army doctor in Missouri. In the 1830's the doctor moved to Illinois a free state and then to the Wisconsin Territory where slavery was band by the Northwest Ordinance in 1787.
They went back to Missouri where the doctor died. In 1846, Scott sued for his freedom. He claimed he should be free because he lived on free soil. The case went to the Supreme Court.
In this case the court also had the opportunity to rule on the question of slavery in territories. Many Americans hoped that the court would resolve the issue for good.
The court's decision electrified the nation. The Chief Justice Roger B. Taney said that Scott was still a slave. As a slave Scott was not a citizen and he had no right to bring a lawsuit. Taney could have stopped there but he decided to dress the border issue.
Taney said Scott being on free soil did not make him free. An enslaved person was property. The fifth amendment prohibits Congress from taking away property without "due process of law."
Taney said that congress couldn't band slavery. Missouri compromise was unconstitutional. The constitution protected slavery.
The Supreme Court said nothing could legally prevent the spread of slavery.
The Republicans and other antislavery groups were really mad that calling the Dred Scott decision was a wicked and false judgement. They also said that it was the greatest crime ever committed.
The Republicans promised that if they won presidency in 1860 they would change the Supreme Court by putting new justices and reverse the decision.
Frederick Douglass hoped the chains of events would stop the slavery system.
