Dred Scott's Case

Civil rights has been a very harsh and long fight for those condemned to the title of Black, colored, or negro. Slavery in our country dates back all the way to 1619, where Africans were sold from Africa, to help colonize the new Americas’. Slavery then continued throughout the centuries, until those who were slaves, rose up against the unethical view on slavery. With this, certain people began to push against the ‘lost’ civil rights of the colored people. Two of these people include the well-known civil rights activist and as well as the well-known Stokely Carmichael.

The 13th Amendment allowed the African Americans to be released from the institutionalized oppression of slavery, at the same time allowing them to achieve political and civil rights. It did not protect them from the violence that they will experience on a physical and physiological level, the newly freed African Americans that were victimized by different factors such as political regulations. Many African Americans attempted to exercise their newly acquired rights, but as a result, white southerners saw this as problematic and resorted to taking violent actions. Violence became one of the primary acts which caused the African American community’s rights to become void and it puts their black lives and black livelihood at stake.

THE 14TH AMENDMENT In this paper, I will be talking about the equal protection of laws clause in 14th amendment interpreted in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This paper will focus on the concern over racial injustice in the judgment of Plessy v. Ferguson. Racial injustice is being looked in several aspects i.e. the argument of absolute equality, the objection to inferiority argument, the personal liberty argument and the good faith argument. In the end, I will conclude that the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson is a pernicious decision.

he Dred Scott decision of 1857 was a significant decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court that declared that blacks, regardless of whether they were free or a slave, had no legal standing because they were not American citizens. The decision was not the first to be made regarding Dred Scott; a Missouri jury ruled in Scott 's favour when Scott claimed that his residence in Illinois and Wisconsin made him free, but the state supreme court ruled against him, which lead to the case being escalated to the US Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court ruled against Scott 7-2. The Dred Scott decision is considered a landmark decision and is indicative of the tumultuous political climate of the time.

Many notable Supreme Court cases have depended on the 14th Amendment and its clauses. One of the first was Plessy vs. Ferguson, where the Supreme Court said that segregation was Constitutional as long as the facilities were “separate but equal.” Another famous Supreme Court case involving this Amendment was Brown vs. Board of Education. In this case, the Supreme Court concluded that the separate facilities weren’t equal, which violated the 14th Amendment, so they reversed the ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson. If it weren’t for the 14th Amendment, these cases wouldn’t have happened and the Civil Right Movement may have never occurred.

Other than the American citizens, another major factor that the 14th Amendment affects is the education system. Keeping the equality between all students is key in today's world. One of the most grossing arguments is on how to have total equality with all races, genders

Dred Scott was taken back into slavery and accused Sandford because Scott was in a free states and claimed that he was in the free state long enough to be a free slave. The Supreme court ruled against Dred Scott, this decision affected blacks preventing them to become citizens and an giving them the right to appeal to a jury and making it harder for a slave to escape because the free states didn’t make a runaway slave a free slave. The case also affected popular sovereignty. Where states got to choose if they were to be a free states or a slave

America’s founders created the constitution in order to create unification and order in the United States. However, there have been controversy surrounding the interpretation of the constitution, this has caused debate over many issues within the country. These issues and the lack of wartime policy within the constitution directly lead to the Civil War, which was one of the worst alterations this nation has faced. The Missouri compromise, the Dred Scott decision, and Bleeding Kansas were controversial issues surrounding the constitution that directly lead to the Civil War.

The Civil rights movement was a long and hard fight for freedom in our nation. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the many people who devoted themselves and fought for the movement. He did it in hope to make the world a better place. Outraged and indignant, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham city jail” addresses the events that took place in the name of freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. reflects on the events, through his use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools.

The Dred Scott vs. Sanford Supreme Court case has gone down in history as one of the most notorious cases and recognized as driving the country closer to civil war. The case became controversial in 1833, because Dr. John Emerson, purchased Dred Scott, and moved to the Wisconsin Territory. From the Missouri Compromise, slavery was banned in the Wisconsin Territory, therefore, making Scott a free man, right? After living there for a number of years Emerson moved to St. Louis and died in 1843 leaving Eliza Irene Sanford, Emerson’s wife, the owner of Scott and his family. When Scott asked for freedom, Stanford declined which lead to Scott suing the state court, where he won and was acknowledged as a free man.

In addition, this decision revealed that African-Americans were considered to be property rather than citizens. In sum, Dred Scott, a slave of Dr. John Emerson of Illinois, a state in which slavery is prohibited, sued his master’s widow for not granting him his freedom in a free state. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was not entitled to his freedom and must remain a slave. Lincoln described the Dred Scott Decision as a “burlesque upon judicial decisions”. Significantly, this decision displays the false interpretation of the Declaration of Independence(DOI) and the clear opposition Congress has to the idea that equality also applied to blacks.

Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. The case was decided in 1857 with a 7–2 decision. Scholars today believe it is one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia in the 1790’s. In 1830, he was bought by Dr. John Emerson.

The Fourteenth Amendment The 14th Amendment is perhaps one of the most significant and controversial parts of the entire Constitution. It deals with some pretty heavy topics, including: the definition of citizenship, the obligation of states to ensure “equal protection of the laws”, due process, disqualification from holding office, and how representation in Congress is determined. My favorite thing about this amendment is that it completely changed the way Americans viewed equality, and that is the idea I’d like to focus on in this essay. The 14th Amendment was created in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Two score and 13 years ago people with colored skin were being segregated for everyday activities like drinking from a water fountain and going to school. Martin Luther King and many others were tired of not getting the treatment they were promised as a whole, so Martin Luther King wrote his famous “I have a Dream” speech, to address the problem that was sweeping the nation. He wanted to persuade the nation to treat Black people with equality and respect. The black population was not going to rest until they received their rights that they were promised when Abraham Lincoln said the “Emancipation Proclamation” . King has a dream and has faith that one day everyone will be equal, everyone will have rights, and that there will be everlasting

Thus, the decision prevented free blacks from advancing in society. The constitution did not apply to them, which consequently developed a lot of confusion and created problems the future free blacks and slaves in the United States. Last of all, even though free blacks were considered as free men, the court failed to recognize them as citizens. This meant that free blacks still did not receive the rights they deserved. The Dred Scott decision was to define the free black’s status and define what rights they did and did not have, since the constitution did not apply to them.