A. The Scott v. Sanford (Dred Scott) case is one of the most infamous Supreme Court cases of all times, affirming the reach of slavery into the putatively "free territories"
B. This report will examine the background of the case, the decision of the Supreme Court, and its effect
A. Laws regarding freedom for slaves in "free territories"
B. "The Scott suits" Overview
A. The initial lawsuits and results
IV. Critical Response to Supreme Court Decision
A. Contemporary and current reactions
B. Judgments regarding Chief Justice Taney's decision
C. Precedents Established by the case
A. The case represents one of the most unfortunate decisions
handed down by the Supreme Court
B. It set back the cause of abolition for decades and diminished the effort to create exceptions to slavery
The case of Scott v. Sanford, 19 How (60 U.S.) 393 (1857) was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 6-7, 1858, by a vote of 7 to 2, with Chief Justice Roger B. Taney writing for the Court and Justices John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis dissenting. The case, as this study demonstrates, stands as one of the most important cases in American constitutional history, playing a significant role in precipitating the Civil War. Two leading questions were addressed in the case, (1) Had the Circuit Court of the United States jurisdiction to hear and determine the case between these parties? (2) If it had jurisdiction, is the judgment it has given erroneous or not? The issue as understood by justice Taney vis-à-vis the Constitution was framed as follows: "Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guarantied by that i...