THE DRED SCOTT CASEU.S. Supreme Court Decision1857Dred Scott was born a slave in Southhampton County, Virginia, around the year 1759. Originally owned by Peter Blow, upon Blow's death, his daughter Elizabeth sold Scott to Dr. John Emerson of Missouri (a slave state) in 1833. A traveling Army physician, from 1833 to 1838, Scott accompanied Emerson on lengthy stays to the free territories of Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Based on this and the fact that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 barred slavery north of 36_30'; Henry Taylor Blow (the son of Peter) filed a suit on Scott's behalf for his freedom. In 1846, a Missouri local court freed Scott; however, in 1852, the Missouri State Supreme Court reversed the decision. Taken to the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled against Scott on March 6, 1857. The court ruled first, that Negroes were "considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings" and therefore had no rights the white man should respect. Second, that Scott had no claim to freedom because his permanent |
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| residence was in the slave state of Missouri when he filed the suit. Finally, that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Following the ruling, Blow purchased Scott and his family and gave them their freedom. He died a year and half later of tuberculosis. | |
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