Dred Scott was then bought by an army surgeon, Dr. John Emerson. Emerson took Scott to Illinois. At this time, Illinois was a free state. Emerson and Scott migrated to a fort in Wisconsin Territory.At this territory, Dred Scott met and then married Harriet Robinson. Harriet Robinson was also a slave.
After Dr. Emerson died, his widow sold Scott to an army captain. The Surpreme Court denied Scott's application, stating that the constitution protected slavery. After the ruling, Dred Scott ended up in the possesion of John Stanford.
John Stanford was a New York abolitionist, who assisted in taking his case to federal courts. Scott sued for his freedom, claiming that living on free land had made him free. The case eventually arrived in the Surpreme Court. The decision was made in 1857.
The Surpreme Court and the entire country was seperated by sectional lines. One side thought this needed to be fixed in the state courts. The other side thought that Scott should be freed because of the Missouri Compromise. But, there were also people that thought Scott should remain a slave and rule the compromise unconstituitional.
The court was puzzeled. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney found that Dred Scott wasn't able to be in court because people of the black color weren't citizens. He also found that under the fifth amendment, he didn't have the authority to take away other peoples property. (In this case, Dred Scott was considered property, not a person.)
However, our 15th president James Buchanan thought that this issue involving slavery had to be put to rest.
By: Amanda Klamut
