Raina Allen

 

Part 1: Bibliographic entry 

 

“Dred Scott.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html. 

 

Part 2: keywords 

 

• Circuit court
• appeal 
• Lower court
• Federal court 
• Upheld decision 
• Justices
• Chief justice 
• Majority opinion 
• Constitutional
• Secession 

 

Part 3: Precis 

 

The author explains the ruling of the Dredd Scott vs Sandford case. Dredd Scott was an African American slave born in 1800. When his owner passed away he and his wife were left in possession of the deceased owner’s widow. It was then that Dredd Scott offered $300 dollars to buy his and wife’s freedom. Once the offer was declined by the widow he brought the case to court. It went through a series of trials in the St. Louis circuit court and Missouri supreme court until it eventually reached the supreme court. The author asserts that the 9 supreme court justices at the time were heavily biased regarding slavery and backs this up by sharing that seven of the nine were appointed by pro-slavery presidents and five of the nine were from slave-owning families. The decision was finally reached in 1857 and ruled that all people of African descent including slaves who had already been freed would not be considered citizens and therefore could not sue in a federal court because they were not privy to any protections under the constitution. 

 

Part 4: Reflections 

 

I felt as though this article summarizes this case in a very coherent and concise manner. I want to do additional research into the nine supreme court justices involved in the ruling and I also want to do additional research on the slave vs free state status and specifically, I need to brush up on the Missouri compromise. I think this article would work really well in reference to my paper and would help support the notion that ideals which this country was founded on specifically: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Doi, U.S. 1776)” only applied to white males and in doing so proving that even though by definition racism shouldn’t exist it did, and in fact still does. 

 

Part 5: Quotables

 

“The decision of the court was read in March of 1857. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney — a staunch supporter of slavery — wrote the ‘majority opinion’ for the court. It stated that because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue.”

 

“Ten years later, after a decade of appeals and court reversals, his case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court. In what is perhaps the most infamous case in its history, the court decided that all people of African ancestry — slaves as well as those who were free — could never become citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal court.”

 

“While the decision was well-received by slaveholders in the South, many northerners were outraged. The decision greatly influenced the nomination of Abraham Lincoln to the Republican Party and his subsequent election, which in turn led to the South’s secession from the Union.”