LAD #18: Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott

In the case of Scott v. Sandford, slave Dred Scott's masters, the Sandfords, allowed him to travel from a slave state to a free state to see if he would become free by doing so, since slaves were considered property in the South and people in the North. The matter was taken to the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Roger Taney presided over the case and made the final ruling. In Taney's decision, he ultimately labeled Scott, and through him all slaves, as property. Because of this decision, Scott technically did not even have the right to sue anybody in a court of law. Taney also said that since the Sandfords had done nothing wrong, he could not legally take their property away from them. Finally, since the Missouri Compromise technically allowed slaves to run away to free states, and if upheld would force the US government to take property away from its owners, Taney ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.