USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -It is possible that Peter Blow sold Dred Scott to Emerson before his death. It is also possible that Blow’s heirs sold him from the estate. On June 30, 1847, Henry Taylor Blow testified in Dred Scott’s circuit court trial for freedom that Peter Blow sold Scott to Dr. Emerson.

Detailed explanation-2: -Two years later Peter Blow died; Scott was subsequently bought by army surgeon Dr. John Emerson, who later took Scott to the free state of Illinois. In the spring of 1836, after a stay of two and a half years, Emerson moved to a fort in the Wisconsin Territory, taking Scott along.

Detailed explanation-3: -Scott sued Mrs. Emerson for “false imprisonment” and battery. Scott argued that he was being held illegally because he had become a free man as soon as he had lived in a free state. He claimed he was taken to a slave state against his will.

Detailed explanation-4: -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.