Essay On The Dred Scott Decision

Then in 1831, the Black Hawk War began. The governor called out the militia, and Lincoln volunteered for service. Lincoln’s term of service ended after 30 days, but he re-enlisted, then a month later, he re-enlisted again. He served a total of 90 days, but saw no fighting. He later recalled that he had “a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes.”

An in an interracial couple, Mildred Jeter a 17-year-old, was black and Richard Loving a 23-year-old, was white. After they got married in Washington D.C and returned in 1958, they were charged and jailed for their actions. The judge told them that they would be sent to prison for one year or they could leave the state for 25 years in exile. Later on, they got arrested for traveling together in Virginia, they were referred to the American Civil Liberties Union. The court ruling disapproved with states banning interracial marriage because it was unconstitutional.

A year before 1820, the U.S. annexed East Florida, which used to be a refuge for fugitive slaves. Also, Virginia banned all mulattos and blacks, including the free ones, from assembling for educational purposes and made it illegal for them to be able to be taught how to read and write. In South Carolina, slaves, and even free blacks were required to wear identification tags. In that state, there were penalties for anyone introducing any written anti-slavery documents and later on, Denmark Vesey organized an immense slave uprising. About forty slaves, and Denmark Vasey were executed while the others were sold out of the state.

-After being a slave under Dr. Emerson’s widowed wife, in 1846, Scott sought to purchase his freedom along with his family but was denied, therefore taking the issue to court and suing Irene Emerson Sandford (and later John Sandford). 2. Procedural history: -When Scott first took this case to the St. Louis County Circuit Court, it was decided that he was a free man however Sandford issued an appeal to the Supreme Court of the state.

The cause of most political dispute around 1820-1860 was mostly about slavery. There has been division between the North and the South, though compromise had usually serve in calming the disagreement. However, nearing 1860, political compromise appeared useless. Comprises simply postponed addressing the issue, and led to even more greater issues than needed,compromise wasn’t working politically, socially,and economically for our nation.

The divided opinion amongst the Justices illustrated the divided nation (Scott v. Sandford 1875). When the Dred Scott case came to the Supreme Court, the nation was in a time of great divide, with pro and antislavery groups arguing about whether new states should enter the nation as "slave" states, where slavery was legal, or "free" states, where slavery was illegal. The nation was on the verge of violent conflict over the issue and Congress was too divided to do anything (Pearson Education Inc. 2005). This argument was heightened by the establishment of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had some territories enter the nation as slave states and others as free states (Independence Hall Association 2013).

Despite the fact that the Constitution did not employ the term “slavery”, Article IV provided for the return of persons who escaped from their masters “held to service or labor” such as fugitive slaves. After 20 years of the confirmation of the Constitution in 1808, Article I provided the end of the slave trade. Many questions were left non responsed by the Constitution, especially, about the statue of slavery in the new territories obtained by the United States. (ibid) The failure to treat the comprehension and the honesty with slavery in the Constitution guaranteed a conflict over this issue and was particularly one of the leading motivations for war and those reasons were demonstrated in the quotation of the American Civil

Equality for African Americans did not get put into place after the Civil War because of Lincoln’s assassination, nobody after him would necessarily support civil rights because they either didn’t support it, or they didn’t want to show they supported it because they would have had a chance of losing office. The South also depended heavily on slave trade; most southerners didn’t just give up their slaves they had already “owned”. The Ku Klux Klan Act was an act

Reasons for War There were many things that lead up to the civil war. One of those things was when the Mexican-American war ended, America got lots of territories. This posed a problem because America didn’t know whether to admit them as free or slave states. The anti-slavery movement wanted the land acquired from the war to not allow slavery, while others wanted slavery or for the territories to decide for themselves, otherwise known as popular sovereignty. Many junior officers in the war would go on to play big parts in the Civil War.

Slavery had a lot of complication when dealing with the national and state governments. When we go back to the Declaration of Independence we will notice the great emphasis on equality however this was not a national concept given to all. Slavery was a very controversial issue between the Northern and Southern States and what the Declaration of Independence stood for. While in the Northern part of the nation argued that Slavery was unconstitutional the Southern States fought to say that slaves were not considered people but material possessions

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 Dred Scott v. Sanford case involved a lawsuit made by a slave name Dred Scott claiming that he should be granted his freedom. His claims were based on the argument that his master Dr. John Emerson had illegally held his during trips to Illinois and Wisconsin which were both free territories. With Dr. Emerson having died at the time of the lawsuit, Scott sued his widow. The lawsuit was ultimately taken on by her brother Sanford hens the name Died Scott v. Sanford. Unfortunately for Scott, he was not identified as a citizen because he was a African American.

Born in 1800, Dred Scott was born a Negro slave in Virginia, and later was taken to Missouri. (Rawley 188) Dred Scott was sold to army surgeon, John Emerson. John Emerson was a surgeon and because of his profession, he always traveled the country. According to the Missouri Compromise, Wisconsin fell under the free land.

Some might ask why is the constitution important to the United States? The United States relies on the constitution for a base. The constitution is what freed us from Great Britain. Where would our country be today if our founding fathers didn't create the constitution and didn't make this country freedom of speech and religion. How the constitution started, why it was created, and what it effects in today's society.