1. The Dreadful Decision
Dred Scott

2. The Man of the Hour

3. Who Was Dred Scott? Born 1795 in Virginia Moved to Missouri in 1820s
Original master Peter Blow
Later owned by John Emerson
Emerson: military doctor

4. Heading North

5. Attempts for Freedom Between 1834-1838
Lived in various free states with master
Tried to buy own freedom
Married Harriet, a free black

6. The Wife

7. The Return 1838: Emerson returns to Missouri with Dred Scott
Anti-slavery folks in Missouri wanted to help him sue for freedom.

8. The Land Where it Began

9. The Path Begins 1846: Local court heard argument for freedom.
Cited residence on free soil for four years
1850: Local court awarded freedom

10. Hear Ye, Hear Ye!!

11. The Path Continues
State of Missouri appealed to the state Supreme Court
They ruled against his freedom
Claimed residence on free soil does not mean freedom

12. The Goal

13. The Path Ends
Anti-slavery people and even John Emerson got the appeal pushed to the US Supreme Court
Emerson dies and Scott becomes slave of John Sanford

14. Fling Wide The Door!!

15. Supreme Court Years Case reached the Supreme Court docket in 1854
The case was argued in 1856
This places Scott at 61 years of age at the time of his case

16. Montgomery Blair

17. The Case Decision made on March 6, 1857 6-3 decision
Montgomery Blair and George Ticknor Curtis: Dred Scott
Reverdy Johnson and Henry Geyer: U.S. Government

18. Reverdy Johnson

19. The Case 2
“This is a case that shall determine whether slavery shall live forever.” –Reverdy Johnson
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney
Majority opinion settles several issues

20. The Old Goat…BAAAAA

21. Questions of the Case
1. Does a non-citizen have the right to sue in federal court?
2. Did residence on free-soil entitle him to freedom?
3. Could Congress determine slavery in the West?

22. Thinking Away!!

23. Decisions Scott had no right to sue
Residence on free soil did not entitle him to freedom
Congress had no authority to exclude slavery from any U.S. territory

24. Decision Made!!

25. Irony
Missouri Compromise and Kansas-Nebraska Act would be deemed unconstitutional as it violated the 5th Amendment to the Constitution under the Dred Scott decision.

26. En Fuego!!!!

27. Taney’s Opinion
Blacks or negroes “had for more than a century been regarded as beings of an inferior order, so far inferior that they had no rights, which the white man was bound to respect.” -Roger Taney

28. Legitimate Opinion?

29. The Impact Compromise is now destroyed Moderation is ruined
Middle ground will be lost among politicians
Blacks had no rights

30. Meet In The Middle? NO!

31. Frederick Douglass
“I see them clearly and feel them sadly with an earnest, aching heart. I have long looked for the realization of the hope of my people, standing as it were, barefoot, and …

32. The

33. Douglass 2
…treading upon the sharp and flinty rocks of the present and looking out upon the boundless sea of the future. I have sought in my humble way to penetrate the intervening mists and clouds…

34. Struggle

35. Douglass 3
… and per chance to see in the distance, a time at which the cruel bondage of my people should somehow end, and the long entombed millions rise from their foul grave of slavery and…

36. Continues

37. Douglass 4
…death. But of that time I can now know nothing and you can know nothing, and all is uncertain at this point. I walk by faith and not by sight.” –Frederick Douglass

38. C’est Fin