ld ultimately turn.
In 1842, Dr. Emerson was posted by the Army to Florida while his wife and the family's slaves, including Scott and his wife, remained in St. Louis. In 1843, Emerson rejoined his family in St. Louis, but he died shortly thereafter. The slaves continued to work for Mrs. Emerson and were occasionally hired out to others, thereby functioning as a de facto source of additional income for Mrs. Emerson.
On April 6, 1846, Dred and Harriet Scott instituted a suit for freedom against Mrs. Emerson in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, under Missouri law. Though two separate lawsuits were filed, one on behalf of each of the Scots, in 1850, only the case involving Dred Scott was pursued in order to avoid costly litigation with the agreement among the parties that the resoluti
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