Dred Scott v. Sandford
Case Overview
Dred Scott, an enslaved man, sued for his freedom on the theory that his prolonged residence in a free state and a free federal territory had made him free. In a 7 to 2 decision issued on March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court rejected the suit and reached far beyond it, ruling that people of African descent were not and could not be citizens of the United States. The decision is widely regarded as one of the worst in the Court's history and was repudiated by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Legal Issues
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The Conclusion
By a vote of 7 to 2, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote for the Court that people of African descent, whether enslaved or free, were not citizens under the Constitution and therefore could not sue in federal court, and that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, which made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. Justices McLean and Curtis dissented. The ruling was repudiated by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment, whose Citizenship Clause was written to overturn it.
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