Dred Scott vs. Sanford

1856

(60 U.S. 393)

INTRODUCTION

Imagine that you are a black slave who was born in a southern state before the Civil War. As the personal servant of your white master, you are required to accompany him on a business trip that takes you to a Northern state where slavery is illegal according to state law. After living in a Free State for a period of time, you are forced to return to the South where your entire life is once again governed by the institution of slavery.

But Questions Remain:

Did you become a freeman when you moved to a Free Northern state?
Does your residence in the North, where slavery is illegal, change your legal status as a black slave?
Are you a citizen because you were was born in the United States, not in Africa?
Do you now have legal rights and can you sue your master in a court of law to force him to grant you your freedom?

In fact, this was the actual life experience of a black slave from Missouri by the name of Dred Scott. This is his story.

Dred Scott Chronology

Reprint from Washington University Library@library.wustl.edu

1799		Dred Scott is born in Virginia as a slave of the Peter Blow family. He spent his life as a slave, and never learned to read or write.
1803		United States purchases Louisiana from France, extending federal sovereignty to an ill-defined territory west of the Mississippi.
1804		United States takes formal possession of what is now Missouri.
1820		After fierce debate, Congress admits Missouri as a slave state. The question of Missouri statehood sparks widespread disagreement over the expansion of slavery. The resolution, eventually known as the Missouri Compromise, permits Missouri to enter as a slave state along with the free state of Maine, preserving a balance in the number of free and slave states. The Compromise also dictates that no territories above 36o 30' latitude can enter the union as slave states. Missouri itself is located at the nexus of freedom and slavery. The neighboring state of Illinois had entered the union as a free state in 1819, while in subsequent years Congress admits Arkansas as a slave state and Iowa as a free state.
1830		The Blow family moves to St. Louis, part of the wholesale migration of people from the southern states of the eastern seaboard to the newer slave states of the Mississippi Valley. The Blows sell Scott to Dr. John Emerson, a military surgeon stationed at Jefferson Barracks just south of St. Louis. Over the next twelve years Scott accompanies Emerson to posts in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where Congress prohibited slavery under the rules of the Missouri Compromise. During this time, Scott marries Harriet Robinson, also a slave. The Scotts later have two children. The Scotts are not alone in this movement. Slaves are constantly on the move, either forced to accompany their masters or sold as part of the ever-widening domestic s lave trade. Slave states and free states, which had previously respected one another's laws on slavery, become increasingly hesitant to enforce those laws as the argument over the expansion of slavery becomes increasingly heated. Slaveholders express particular opposition to legal precedents that permit slaves to demand their own freedom after being transported to places (whether other states or foreign countries) that prohibit slavery.
1842		The Scott family returns to St. Louis with Dr. Emerson and his wife Irene.
1843		John Emerson dies. Mrs. Emerson hires out Dred, Harriet, and their children to work for other families in St. Louis.
1846		Dred and Harriet Scott sue Mrs. Emerson for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court.
1847		The Circuit Court rules in favor of Mrs. Emerson, dismissing the Scotts' case but allowing the Scotts to refile their suit.
1850		The jury in a second trial decides that the Scotts deserve to be free, based on their years of residence in the non-slave territories of Wisconsin and Illinois.
1852		Mrs. Emerson, not wanting to lose such valuable property, appeals the decision to the Missouri Supreme Court. Lawyers on both sides agree that from now on appeals will be based on Dred's case alone, with findings applied equally to Harriet. The state Supreme Court overrules the Circuit Court decision and returns Scott to slavery.
1853-54		Scott, supported by lawyers who opposed slavery, files suit in the U.S. Federal Court in St. Louis. The defendant in this case is Mrs. Emerson's brother, John Sanford, who has assumed responsibility for John Emerson's estate. As a New York resident and technically beyond the jurisdiction of the state court, Scott's lawyers can only file a suit against Sanford in the federal judicial system. Again the court rules against Scott.
1856-1857		Scott and his lawyers appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Scott v. Sanford the Court states that Scott should remain a slave, that as a slave he is not a citizen of the U.S. and thus not eligible to bring suit in a federal court, and that as a slave he is personal property and thus has never been free. The court further declares unconstitutional the provision in the Missouri Compromise that permitted Congress to prohibit slavery in the territories. In fact, the compromise is already under assault as a coalition of political leaders—some slaveholders, others westerners who resent the federal government's ability to dictate the terms of statehood—claim that territorial residents should be able to determine on what terms they enter the union. The decision in Scott v. Sanford greatly alarms the antislavery movement and intensifies the growing division of opinion within the United State. The newly-formed Republican Party, which opposes the expansion of slavery, vigorously criticizes the decision and the court.
1857		Mrs. Emerson remarries. Since her new husband opposes slavery, she returns Dred Scott and his family to the Blow family. The Blows give the Scotts their freedom.
1858		Dred Scott dies of tuberculosis and is buried in St. Louis. He was buried in Wesleyan Cemetery at what is now the intersection of Grand and Laclede Avenues in St. Louis (now part of the campus of St. Louis University). In 1867, Wesleyan cemetery closed and the bodies were disinterred and reburied at other sites. Dred Scott's body was moved to an unmarked grave in Section 1, Lot No. 177, Calvary Cemetery, in north St. Louis County. In 1957 a marker was placed on Dred Scott's grave which reads: "DRED SCOTT BORN ABOUT 1799 DIED SEPT. 17, 1858 DRED SCOTT SUBJECT OF THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1857 WHICH DENIED CITIZENSHIP TO THE NEGRO, VOIDED THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE ACT, BECAME ONE OF THE EVENTS THAT RESULTED IN THE CIVIL WAR"
1860		Abraham Lincoln is elected president in a political contest dominated by the discussion of slavery. South Carolina secedes from the Union, and the Civil War begins.

THE TASK

Students will produce a legal and historical analysis of the 1856 United States Supreme Court case Dred Scott vs. Sanford, using the interdisciplinary problem solving skills found in CompuLEGAL. Through using both primary and secondary sources, students will create written assignments and oral presentations expressing their opinion of the Dred Scott decision.

You will complete a CompuLEGAL interdisciplinary problem solving skills project according to the following criteria.

Students will:

· Understand the facts of the Dred Scott case and be able to form the main legal “issue question.”

· Recognize the values and points of view of both parties in the case.

· Comprehend those events or behaviors that resulted in the legal conflict in question.

· Understand the constitutional basis for the case and how it effected the Supreme Court’s decision.

· Be able to successfully operate the CompuLEGAL interactive learning program and access information about the Dred Scott decision for various Internet sites.

THE PROCESS

Students will complete the following assignments through the Steps outlined on the CompuLegal interactive program. You will be able to:

Step #1: Examine and interpret the Dred Scott vs. Sanford through a cartoon “visual.”

Step #2: Conduct an Internet search through utilizing the web site listed below in order to understand the facts and historical significance of the Dred Scott case.

Step #3: Complete “The Facts and Issue Question” which examines the legal questions presented to the Supreme Court.

Step #4: Form arguments for both sides of the issue, showing why the court should rule in favor of Dred Scott and Sanford.

Step #5: Explain and justify why a Supreme Court Justice would choose one side or the other in the legal conflict based upon the sources you have located.

Step #6: Understand the Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case by evaluating the justices written opinions.

Step #7: Write a response to one “follow-up question.”

(TO START WEBQUEST CLICK HERE) >Dred Scott WebQuest

Hand Written Opinion of Supreme Court Chief Justice Taney

Dred Scott vs. John F. A. Sanford, March 6, 1857

Reprint National Archives@www.Archives.gov

THE RESOURCES

PBS: Dred Scott's Fight For Freedom

Public Television website, Africans In America, containing biographical information and a summary of Supreme Court decision.

Dred Scott Papers: Washington University in St. Louis

Archival papers and photographic exhibits relating to Dred Scott’s life and times that includes excellent timeline and chronograph.

Lectric Law Library: Dred Scott vs. Sanford

Contains full text of the final written judgment in the Dred Scott decision by Chief Justice Taney. Includes the dissenting justices opinions.

Old St. Louis Courthouse: Dred Scott Case

Website of the historical Old St. Louis Courthouse where Dred Scott and his friends filed their first lawsuit demanding his freedom. Includes excellent summary of his legal battle and a RealAudio recording of Scott’s wife, Harriet, describing the struggle for freedom with her husband.

Watson: Dred Scott

Fine overview of Dred Scott decision, along with great historical background on Taney’s Supreme Court, its impact upon upon the Abolitionist movement and the Civil War. Includes a description of both the Democrat and Republican Parties reactions to this controversial ruling.

National Archives, American Originals: Dred Scott Decision

Official government website of National Archives in Washington, D.C. Contains photographs of the actual handwritten documents of the Supreme Court decision penned by Chief Justice Taney. Also, excellent search program for primary source documents on abolitionism and the coming of the Civil War.

Northwestern University: The Oyez Project

Great legal abstract of the “Facts Of Case,” with the “Question Presented” and “Summary” of Dred Scott case. Site contains biographies of all sitting justices on the

1856 Supreme Court along with their individual voting records on specific court cases.

The Founders' Library: 19th Century Court Decisions

Excellent summaries of legal opinions of Dred Scott case in simplified format.

Thomas Gale: Biography Resource Center

Short biographical summary of Dred Scott with extensive information on Afro-American History and documents.

EVALUATION & STANDARDS

Students must complete the Seven Steps listed under “Tasks”, including the Follow-Up essay question. All work, except the essay, is to be completed in the CompuLEGAL interactive program, with a hard printed copy produced for submission. The entire project will be graded on a Scale 1-5.

This interdisciplinary WebQuest project was created in accordance with the following New York State-New York City Learning Standards:

· Social Studies: Civics, Citizenship and Government, Key Ideas 1-4

· Social Studies: History of United States and New York, Key Ideas 1-4

· English Language Arts: Standards 1+3

CONCLUSION

Students will write a short essay of at least two complete paragraphs giving their opinion of one of these Follow-Up Questions:

What would have been the South’s immediate reaction if the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that Dred Scott was not “property”, but a “person” who had legal rights? Explain.
Could the outbreak of the Civil War have been avoided if the Supreme Court Justices had ruled differently? How?
Would the outcome of the decision have changed if Dred Scott had been born in Africa, instead of America? Why? Why Not?