LAD #16- Dred Scott Decision

The Supreme Court's Decision on the Dred Scott Case
February 14, 1857
Summary:

As the Supreme Court first met for the Dred Scott Case, its judges assumed to reach a verdict that ruled in Sanford favor, but failed to see the larger picture of what their decision had to do with the issues faced by the Negro population. Justice Nelson was chosen to come up with a decision to express the opinion of the majority, though once he presented it to them, it turned out to be only the opinion of himself. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney was instead chosen to write the actually opinion, and in it would include the issue of Negro citizenship and the dispute over the Missouri Compromise.

Many Americans had become aware of the impending decision of the Scott vs. Sanford case, and President-elect James Buchanan even asked some of the Supreme Court members if they had made a decision yet so that he knew of what to say in his inaugural speech. In his address he had an idea of their decision, and supported them by saying "A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time when the people of a Territory shall decide this question [of slavery] for themselves. "

A short time after the inauguration speech, Chief Justice Taney revealed the final decision of the Supreme Court, saying that "Negroes, even free Negroes, were not citizens of the United States," because of this, Scott did not have the ability to sue in a federal court. As for the Missouri Compromise, Taney said that they acquired land had fallen under the Constitution power, and no rights of the citizens who moved there could be revoked. Therefore, there was no distinction between slaves and property in general.

Despite this, the Compromise was still ruled unconstitutional, though that did little for Scott, whose stay in the free state of Illinois did not alter the Court's decision. Because he had filed suit in the slave state of Missouri, he was still seen as a slave. The Supreme Court inevitably ruled in the favor of Sanford.