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: -Blow died in 1832, and Dr. John Emerson, an army surgeon, purchased Scott. From December 1, 1833, until May 4, 1836, Emerson served as the post physician at Fort Armstrong, Illinois, near the present city of Rock Island. Scott lived with Emerson on the army post.

Detailed explanation-3: -Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856) In a decision that later was nullified by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Supreme Court held that former slaves did not have standing in federal courts because they lacked U.S. citizenship, even after they were freed.

Detailed explanation-4: -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-5: -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.