Troubled Times the Tumultuous 1850s - Dred Scott

ASU HST 200 (Historical Themes) Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s Dred Scott (Key Notes and Summary) Key Notes - Prior to the Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857, President Buchanan assumed office. - Born into slavery in 1795, Dred Scott was transported to Missouri, where the Missouri Compromise made slavery lawful. - Scott attempted to buy his freedom after growing up in a place where it was illegal to be a slave. - Scott won at first, but his freedom was revoked when a state Superior Court reversed the decision. - In 1854, Scott's case made it all the way to the US Supreme Court. - The Supreme Court's decision in 1857 was presided over by Chief Justice Roger Taney. - The Supreme Court upheld Scott's continued enslavement and extended its rule to exclude Black people from citizenship. - The Court also ruled that Congress was unable to stop the spread of slavery into American territory. - The ruling infuriated Republicans because it went against their objective of limiting the expansion of slavery. - The Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty were declared illegal in the verdict. - Stephen Douglas in particular faced challenges as support for popular sovereignty declined for Democrats in the north. - Tensions over slavery's westward extension between the north and south were heightened by the ruling. Summary After President Buchanan's inauguration in 1857, the Supreme Court rendered its decision in the historic Dred Scott v. Sandford case. Born into slavery, Dred Scott lived in a place where slavery was illegal and had made vain attempts to obtain freedom via the legal system. Although a jury had originally found in Scott's favor, he lost further appeals, and Chief Justice Roger Taney of the Supreme Court ultimately held that Scott was still a slave and that Black people could never be citizens of the United States. In addition to nullifying the Missouri Compromise, this ruling infuriated Republicans since it supported the spread of slavery into American territory and weakened the idea of popular sovereignty that Democrats like Stephen Douglas had defended. The decision heightened anti-slavery sentiment in the North by exposing the impact of the South's Slave Power at the highest levels of government. Dred Scott Notes After President Buchanan took the oath of office, the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857, a few months later. Born into slavery in Virginia in 1795, Dred Scott (Figure 14.16) was one of the millions of people displaced by the huge internal slave trade and sent to Missouri, where the Missouri Compromise had legalized slavery. Scott's owner sent him to Illinois and subsequently the Wisconsin territory in 1820. Nevertheless, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory, which included both of those areas. Scott tried to purchase his freedom once he got back to Missouri. When his owner refused, he filed a state court petition for relief, claiming he was entitled to freedom since he had lived in a place where slavery was outlawed. A jury concluded after a convoluted series of court proceedings that Scott, his spouse, and their two kids were free. The Scotts' enslavement persisted, nevertheless, when the state Superior Court overturned the ruling following an appeal from Scott's owner. After that, Scott belonged to John Sanford, a resident of New York (note that subsequent court papers misread his name as "Sandford"). He persisted in his legal struggle, which came under the purview of the federal court because it concerned both Missouri and New York. Scott filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court in 1854 after losing in lower court. The Supreme Court rendered its ruling in 1857, with Chief Justice Roger Taney—a former slaveholder who had emancipated his own people—presiding over the court. The Supreme Court ruled that Scott was still enslaved in response to the issue of whether he was free. The court then rendered a broad and significant ruling about the status of Black people, both free and enslaved, moving beyond the particular matter of Scott's release. Black people could never be citizens of the United States, the court said. The court also decided that Congress lacked the power to restrict or halt the expansion of slavery into American territory. The Dred Scott decision enraged Republicans by declaring their goal—to prohibit slavery from spreading into the territories—unlawful. It also deemed the Missouri Compromise and Douglas's popular sovereignty unconstitutional. Republicans viewed the ruling as another evidence of the South's Slave Power's reach, which now seemed to include the Supreme Court. The decision also made things more difficult for Democrats in the north, particularly Stephen Douglas, who was unable to continue selling popular sovereignty to northern voters as a symbolic concession to southerners. Few people in the north supported slavery's westward spread.