Dred Scott v. Sandford

Dred Scott v. Sandford{{fn|1}}, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), known as the "Dred Scott Case", was a lawsuit decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1857. It is considered by many to have been a key cause of the American Civil War, and of the later ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, leading to the abolition of slavery and establishment of civil rights for freed slaves. The decision for the court was written by Chief Justice Roger Taney.

Related Topics:
60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 - 1857 - Lawsuit - Supreme Court of the United States - Cause - American Civil War - Ratification - Thirteenth - Fourteenth - Fifteenth - United States Constitution - Slavery - Civil rights - Decision - Chief Justice - Roger Taney

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Dred Scott was an American slave who was taken first to Illinois, a free state, and then to Minnesota, a free territory, for an extended period of time, and then back to the slave state of Missouri. After his original master died, he sued for his freedom. He initially won his freedom from a Missouri lower court, but the decision was reversed by the Missouri Supreme Court and remanded back to the trial court. Simultaneously, Scott had filed suit in federal court, where, after prevailing on the issue of his status as a citizen of Missouri, he lost a trial by jury. Scott appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which used the case to fundamentally change the legal balance of power in favor of slaveholders.

Related Topics:
Dred Scott - Slave - Illinois - Free state - Minnesota - Territory - Slave state - Missouri - Sued - Missouri Supreme Court - Appeal

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The Court ruled that:

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• No Negroes, not even free Negroes, could ever become citizens of the United States. They were "beings of an inferior order" not included in the phrase "all men" in the Declaration of Independence nor afforded any rights by the Constitution.
• The exclusion of slavery from a U.S. territory in the Missouri Compromise was an unconstitutional deprivation of property (Negro slaves) without due process prohibited by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This is the first appearance in American constitutional law of the concept of "substantive due process," as opposed to procedural due process.
• Dred Scott was not free, because Missouri law alone applied after he returned there.
 
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