USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Dred Scott decision was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on March 6, 1857, that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle an enslaved person, Dred Scott, to his freedom. In essence, the decision argued that, as someone’s property, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in a federal court.

Detailed explanation-2: -The district court applied the laws of Missouri to find Scott was still a slave, and the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court, in a contentious opinion written by Chief Justice Taney, held that persons of African descent were not citizens of the United States.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1846, an enslaved Black man named Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet, sued for their freedom in St. Louis Circuit Court. They claimed that they were free due to their residence in a free territory where slavery was prohibited. The odds were in their favor.

Detailed explanation-4: -Scott went to trial in June of 1847, but lost on a technicality–he couldn’t prove that he and Harriet were owned by Emerson’s widow. The following year the Missouri Supreme Court decided that case should be retried. In an 1850 retrial, the the St Louis circuit court ruled that Scott and his family were free.