Dred Scott v. Sandford

Mon, 11 Feb 1856 13:00:00 +0000

Location

Fort Snelling

200 Tower Avenue St. Paul MN 55111

St. Paul, MN 55111

United States

44° 52' 35.1696" N, 93° 10' 58.7532" W

See map: Google Maps

Case Basics

Petitioner

Dred Scott

Respondent

Sandford

Heard By

Taney Court (1853-1857)

Decided By

Taney Court (1853-1857)

Opinion

60 U.S. 393 (1857)

Argued

February 11-14, 1856

Reargued:

December 15-18, 1856

Decided

Friday, March 6, 1857

Facts of the Case

Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. From 1833 to 1843, he resided in Illinois (a free state) and in an area of the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After returning to Missouri, Scott sued unsuccessfully in the Missouri courts for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man. Scott then brought a new suit in federal court. Scott's master maintained that no pure-blooded Negro of African descent and the descendant of slaves could be a citizen in the sense of Article III of the Constitution.

Question

Was Dred Scott free or slave?

Conclusion

Decision: 7 votes for Sandford, 2 vote(s) against
Legal provision: US Const. Amend. 5; Missouri Compromise

Dred Scott was a slave. Under Articles III and IV, argued Taney, no one but a citizen of the United States could be a citizen of a state, and that only Congress could confer national citizenship. Taney reached the conclusion that no person descended from an American slave had ever been a citizen for Article III purposes. The Court then held the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, hoping to end the slavery question once and for all.

Cases - 1856 term

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Location