The Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott’s suit for freedom is infamous in US antebellum history. Scott was a slave owned by a US Army surgeon. His owner removed both Scott and his wife to territories where slavery was prohibited, then subsequently returned them to the pro‐slave state of Missouri. After the death of the surgeon, Scott and his wife Harriet pursued a protracted legal battle against the surgeon’s heir and family in order to obtain their manumission. The case spent ten years in the Missouri courts before arriving at the US Supreme Court in 1857. The Court decided against Scott in a sweeping decision...