The Dred Scott Case

In 1856, Dred Scott, a black slave who had lived in a free state and a free territory for seven years, went to court in St Louis in an effort to gain his freedom.  Eleven years later, after a protracted legal struggle, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Scott.  According to Chief Justice Taney, the author of the majority opinion, the question at issue in the case was, "Can a Negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guaranteed by that instrument to the citizen?"  In Taney's view, the fundamental documents of American government, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, clearly defined African Americans as property rather than persons; thus blacks, including those who resided in areas where slavery was prohibited, could never enjoy the rights and privileges granted to citizens of the United States.

• American Originals: Dred Scott

• The Secession Era Editorials Project

• Abraham Lincoln's Speech on the Dred Scott Decision

• Afro-American Almanac