What To Learn About Dred Scott

engraving of Dred and Harriet Scott — Dred and Harriet Scott

One of the almost important cases ever tried in the United States was heard in St. Louis' Old Courthouse. Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark decision that helped inverse the unabridged history of the country. The Supreme Court decided the case in 1857, and with their judgement that the Missouri Compromise was void and that no African-Americans were entitled to citizenship, hastened the Civil War which ultimately led to freedom for the enslaved people of the The states.

Dred and Harriet Scott took their time to come into their ain hands in 1846 and came to the Old Courthouse to seek liberty from enslavement. Dred Scott was most 50 years old when the case began. He was born into enslavement in Virginia effectually 1799, every bit holding of the Peter Accident family. The Blow family moved to St. Louis in 1830 taking Scott with them and soon sold him due to the family's financial problems. Dr. John Emerson, a military surgeon stationed at Jefferson Billet, purchased Scott and Scott accompanied him to posts in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery had been prohibited by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. During this menses, Scott married Harriet Robinson, too enslaved, at Fort Snelling. They had two children, Eliza and Lizzie. John Emerson married Irene Sanford during a brief stay in Louisiana. In 1842, the Scotts returned with Dr. and Mrs. Emerson to St. Louis, where Dr. Emerson died the following year. Mrs. Emerson hired out Dred, Harriet and the Scott children to work for other families keeping the bulk of their wages.

On April 6th, 1846, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed suit against Irene Emerson for their freedom. It is non known for certain why he chose this particular time for the adapt- for almost ix years, Scott had lived in free territories and had the standing to legally claiming his enslavement. Historians take considered three possibilities: He may accept been dissatisfied with beingness hired out; Mrs. Emerson might accept been planning to sell him; or he may have offered to buy his own freedom and been refused. It is known that the suit was not brought for political reasons. It is thought that friends in St. Louis who opposed slavery had encouraged Scott to sue for his freedom on the grounds that he had once lived in a free territory. In the past, Missouri courts supported the doctrine of "once free, ever free." Because Scott lived under a system where it was illegal to teach an enslaved person to read or write he was illiterate and because his earnings were passed on to Mrs. Emerson he had no funds, he needed aid with his accommodate. John Anderson, the Scott'south minister, may accept been influential in their decision to sue, and the Accident family, Dred's original owners, backed him financially. The support of such friends helped the Scotts through nearly 11 years of complex and oftentimes disappointing litigation.

Under the law of 1846, the event considered by the courtroom system was not whether all humans have the right to freedom, but a question of belongings rights. In spite of this manifest injustice, Dred and Harriet Scott and 300 other enslaved people establish the backbone to come to the Old Courthouse seeking freedom. The Scott family didn't find the freedom they sought through the legal claiming, but their courage and determination in filling this case helped bring about the Civil War and freedom from enslavement for all Americans.