Significance: This ruling denied African Americans the right to sue in federal court. The Court also ruled that Congress did not have the power to make a law taking slaves away from people who bring them into a free territory. The ruling heightened the controversy over slavery and hastened the coming of the Civil War.
Background: John Emerson, an army doctor and slaveholder, moved frequently, taking his slave Dred Scott with him on his journeys. Emerson took Scott from Missouri, a slave state, to Illinois and then Wisconsin Territory, both of which prohibited slavery. In 1842 they returned to Missouri. Emerson died soon thereafter, and Scott remained with Emerson’s widow. In 1846 Scott sued for his freedom according to a Missouri legal principle of “once free, always free.” The principle meant that a slave was entitled to freedom if he or she had once lived in a free state or territory. The first trial in 1847 ended in a mistrial, but when the case came before the lower court in 1850, Scott was released from slavery. This ruling was appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, which overturned the lower court’s decision and the Missouri principle of “once free, always free” in 1852.
Decision: This case was argued on February 11­14 and December 15­18, 1856, and decided March 6­7, 1857, by a vote of 7 to 2. Chief Justice Roger Taney spoke for the Court, and Justices Benjamin Curtis and John McLean dissented. The Court ruled that slaves did not have the right to sue in federal courts because they were considered property, not citizens. In addition, the Court ruled that Congress did not have the right to abolish slavery in territories because that right was not strictly defined in the Constitution. This decision overturned the Missouri Compromise, which had prevented slavery in territories north of a certain line of latitude. Furthermore, the Court ruled that if a slave returned to a slave state after having lived in a free state, he or she would be subject to the laws of that state and would remain a slave.
