Good Example Of The Dred Scott Case Essay

The Dred Scott case was a very important case. It involved a man who wanted nothing more to be free from his master. He had no problem staying with his master Emerson while they were North, but as an army doctor, Emerson moved to wherever he was assigned, the new assignment would return them to the South. Dred Scott did not want to return there. They resided in Illinois a free state and Wisconsin a territory that was leaning towards being a free state. The ruling in the case would be devastating for the Anti-Slavery movement.
This case divided the Supreme Court. There were five Justices from Southern states tipping the scale to pro-slavery laws, including the Chief Justice Roger B Taney. The decisions that were reached during the trial would be the breaking point. The Republican party thought the decision of the case was to be their undoing. The new party was anti-slave and wanted to stop it from spreading into the new territories. They would nominate Abe Lincoln for President as a result. The tension between the states would become thick. Some foresaw the war that was just around the corner.
President Buchanan would sway Justice Robert Grier to vote with the Justices from the South. The other Justices were for freeing Scott for the simple reason he was above the line of the Missouri Compromise. The argument was because Emerson had crossed this invisible line after moving to Illinois, Scott was by law free because they were now living in the North. The compromise was to stop slavery from spreading to certain areas, Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and Maine would also join the union at the same time as a free state to keep the balance. It had been written in 1820, revised in 1850 and no longer in effect in 1854. However the Southern Justices might just have had an agenda as the rulings show.
The Court first declared that all people who were from Africa or descendent from those from Africa could not be considered citizens. Because they were not citizens they could not sue. Scott had lost his case after fighting for ten years all because of his skin color and where his ancestors were from. This decision would enrage Northerners and the Chief Justice would be labeled evil man.
The Courts second decision was that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. That would mean slavery could spread North and West instead of staying in Southern States. Part two of this decision was that a court could not declare a territory, such as Wisconsin, a free state meaning slavery was technically legal there even if the people didn’t like it. This meant that slave owners could now move to the territories even though they were against slavery. Tensions would rise between the North and South because of the Court’s ruling. Many from the North were angered with the decisions reached by the court. The attempt to destroy the new anti-slavery party would fail.
In the end the Court was six to three in favor of keeping Scott a slave. The case would be the last straw and the civil war would start four years later. As for Scott, a childhood friend would purchase him so he could be set free. Scott would die months later but at least he died freed. Why he waited so long to sue would never be answered. He had been in the North for a while he could have been set free when he was living as a slave in Illinois. He would never know just how important his lawsuit would become in the long run. Had the court been stacked the other way and Justices from the North outnumbered the Justices from the South, things would have ended differently.