Research Paper on "Dread Scott Decision"

Research Paper 6 pages (2153 words) Sources: 8

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Dred Scott vs. Sanford case is one of the most important cases that have ever been tried in the United States of America and was heard in the Old Courthouse of St. Louis. This case that is usually known as the Dred Scott Decision was a ruling by the Supreme Court of America that African people imported into the country and detained as slaves were not protected by the U.S. Constitution and could never be American citizens. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom from his master in a Missouri court in the year 1846. As part of his arguments, Dred Scott claimed that he resided in Illinois which was a free state and part of the Louisiana Territory. Therefore, he claimed that he was a free man because of his residence in a free territory in which slavery was prohibited by the 1820 Missouri Compromise ("Dred Scott v. Sanford" par, 1). However, Dred Scott's suit for freedom in the local federal court in Missouri was unsuccessful.

Eleven years later after his initial suit in the Missouri court, Scott brought a new suit in the United States' Supreme Court. This was after the federal court ordered the jury to depend on Missouri law for the conclusion of the case regarding Scott's freedom. Additionally, Scott decided to appeal to the United States' Supreme Court following the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court to consider him as a slave. In his defense, Scott's master maintained that the American Constitution did not allow people of African descent and descendant of slaves to be considered as the country's citizens. Similar to the initial suit, the Supreme Court of America ruled in favor of Scott's master because of the fact that people of African descent were considered as property rather than human beings. As reflected in the Supreme Court ruling, the decision in the Dred Scott vs. Sanford case confirmed the long standing ideal that slaves were not equal to U.S. citizens.

Background of the Missouri Compromise:

In the year 1819, there were a number of Congressmen from the North who were upset by the power of the South in national issues given that these Southerners controlled national politics though the Three-Fifths Compromise. In this Compromise, slaves were counted as three-fifths of an individual in the determination of the congressional representatives that a State would have. This calculation was because of the fact that slaves were lawfully considered as a form of property rather than human beings. This Compromise enabled the Southerners to have an edge in presidential elections and the construction of majorities in the Congress. As a result, the Southerners dominated the Democratic - Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson ("Missouri Compromise -- 1820" par, 4).

Furthermore, these Congressmen of the North were also upset by the policies of President Jefferson and President Madison both of whom were from Virginia. Some of these policies that hurt the economy of many states in the North included trade restrictions with France and Great Britain as well as the 1812 War. The war also resulted in the death of the Federalist Party which championed for policies that were beneficial to the Northern states. It was also at this time that the Southern slavery was rapidly spreading to areas that it had been prohibited by the 1787 Northwest Ordinance particularly the Great Lakes area.

As this Missouri Territory received enough population to guarantee its admission as a state into the Union, it was anticipated that it would be a slave state ("Missouri Compromise" par, 2). The equal representation of free states and slave states in the Senate was brought by the entrance of Alabama as a slave state. Additionally, the move to pair Missouri and Maine states which were slave and free states respectively would help in maintaining the equal representation in the Senate. When Maine was made a free state, Missouri was also accepted as a state with the authority to adopt a constitution with no restrictions on slavery. Given that one of the provisions in the Missouri constitution prohibited the immigration of free blacks to this state, there were several objections from a number of Northern Congressmen. Because of these objections from many Congressmen from the North, Missouri State was forced to adopt another congressional compromise.

The adoption of this congressional compromise didn't help in lessening the tension between Northerners and Southerners as evident in many of the State's debates. Actually, the Southerners believed that the Northerners used the existence of slaves as a means of resurrecting the Federalist Party and creating a tougher central government. This is because of the fact that Southerners considered Northerners as people with no humanitarian concern for the slaves. However, the Northerners considered the Southerners as people who didn't anticipate the end of slavery. Due to the growth of slavery, Northerners viewed Southerners as people with a desire of using national legislation to guard and expand the institution. Afterwards, proslavery arguments began intensely with the supporters of slavery arguing that God created Africans to be slaves instead of independent citizens.

Regardless of these ongoing tensions between the Northerners and Southerners, the Missouri Compromise smoothly tackled the national issue of slavery for a number of decades. The Compromise established a model for states to enter the Union in pairs with one free while the other slave ("1820 Missouri Compromise" par, 4). While this was not part of the written legislation, it was a general understanding among Senators with the purpose of ensuring that slave-state senators matched the number of free-state senators. The land acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase was also divided into two parts because of the Missouri Compromise with one of these parts prohibiting slavery while the other accepted it. The Missouri Compromise was not only considered as part of America's Constitution by many people even though it wasn't but it was also a successful one.

Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case:

Dred Scott vs. Sanford case is not only one of the most important cases history of the United States but it's also one of the two trials of Dred Scott that began a series of difficult events and accelerated the commencement of Civil War ("The Dred Scott Decision" par, 1). The first of the two trials of Dred Scott began in 1847 when he was about 50 years old having spent his whole life as an illiterate slave. Following his relocation to St. Louis in 1830, Scott was sold to Dr. John Emerson because of the financial difficulties of his master. Emerson was a military surgeon who worked at Jefferson Barracks and was accompanied by Scott in both Illinois and Wisconsin Territory. During his brief stay in Louisiana, Dr. John Emerson married Irene Sanford and died in 1843 leaving his wife who hired Scott's family as her family workers.

Whereas Dred Scott had lived in free territories for about nine years with no attempts of ending his servitude, he filed a lawsuit against Irene Emerson for the freedom of his family ("Dred Scott v. Sanford -- 1857" par, 3). While it's uncertain why Scott chose this particular time to file a suit for his freedom, he chose to do so because of the fact that he had once lived in a free state and Missouri courts had in the past supported the once free, always free doctrine. Given that Scott was poor and illiterate, he was assisted by his minister, John Anderson and received financial support his original owners. This support was helpful in Scott's complex and always disappointing court case that lasted for approximately eleven years.

Dred Scott lost his initial lawsuit due to the fact that hearsay evidence was presented but was given the right to a second trial by the judge. In the second trial that was conducted in the same Courthouse in St. Louis in 1850, the judges decided that Scott's family should be free after hearing the evidence. However, his master, Mrs. Emerson, appealed the decision to the Missouri State Supreme Court because of the fact that she didn't want to lose Scott and his family who were considered as valuable property. In 1852, the Missouri State Supreme Court reversed the 1850 ruling in St. Louis' Courthouse and returned Scott's family to slavery. The Supreme Court stated that the change of times as the reason behind the decision. Moreover, the court returned Scott's family to slavery because of the fact that the Missouri law permitted slavery and upheld the rights of slave-owners throughout the State.

Due to his resolve to fight for his freedom, Dred Scott filed a lawsuit against John F.A. Sanford in St. Louis Federal Court in 1854 with the assistance of a new team of lawyers who opposed slavery. Sanford resided in New York and was the brother of Mrs. Emerson as well as the architect of the Emerson estate. According to Scott, Sanford not only accused Sanford of assaulting him but also the assault of his wife and children ("U.S. Supreme Court" par, 3). Because… READ MORE

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