The Dred Scott Decision: A Supreme Court Case That Fueled the Civil War

An illustration of Dred Scott, a formerly enslaved man who sued for his freedom, standing before the Supreme Court.

What Happened?

Dred Scott was born into slavery around 1800 in Virginia. He was later sold to Dr. John Emerson, a U.S. Army surgeon, who took Scott to live in Illinois (a free state) and the Wisconsin Territory (where slavery was illegal under the Missouri Compromise). Scott lived in these free territories for years, even hiring himself out for work. In 1843, after Emerson’s death, Scott attempted to buy his freedom from Emerson’s widow, Eliza Irene Sanford, but was refused. This led Scott to sue for his freedom in Missouri courts in 1846, arguing that his residence in free territory had made him a free man.

Scott initially won his case in a Missouri lower court in 1850, but the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the ruling in 1852. Determined to fight for his freedom, Scott brought his case to federal court. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court, dominated by pro-slavery justices, issued its ruling in *Dred Scott v. Sandford*—a decision that would go down as one of the worst in American history.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, writing for the majority, ruled that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, were not citizens and had no standing to sue in federal court. The Court also declared that the Missouri Compromise—an 1820 law that restricted slavery in certain territories—was unconstitutional, stating that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery anywhere in U.S. territories. The ruling effectively opened all U.S. territories to the expansion of slavery, fueling tensions between North and South.

The decision sparked national outrage. Northern abolitionists condemned it as a pro-slavery power grab, while Southerners saw it as a victory for their way of life. The case deepened sectional divisions, strengthened the newly formed Republican Party—led by Abraham Lincoln—and set the nation on a collision course toward the Civil War.

Scott’s story did not end with the Supreme Court. Following the decision, Scott’s former owner’s sons, who opposed slavery, purchased Scott and his family and granted them freedom in 1857. Sadly, Scott died of tuberculosis just nine months later. His case, however, became a symbol of the struggle for African American rights. The *Dred Scott decision* was eventually overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments, which abolished slavery and granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

Why It Matters

The *Dred Scott* ruling remains one of the most infamous Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history, reinforcing the brutal legal framework of slavery and denying African Americans the rights of citizenship. It further emboldened pro-slavery factions, pushed the country closer to the Civil War, and demonstrated how the highest court could be used to uphold systemic racism. However, the ruling also mobilized abolitionists and laid the groundwork for the legal battles that would eventually lead to the Civil Rights Amendments after the war. Today, *Dred Scott v. Sandford* serves as a sobering reminder of the ways in which law can be used to justify oppression, and of the long struggle for racial justice in America.

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Dig Deeper

The case ultimately rejected the idea that Black people could be citizens of the United States, and this helped entrench the institution of slavery, denied a host of rights to a huge number of people (both enslaved and free), and increased the tensions between abolitionists and enslavers.

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