Dred Scott vs. Sanford-1857

Who was Dred Scott?

Dred Scott

  Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri.  His master brought him to Illinois where slavery is forbidden
and then brought him back to Missouri.

What Happened?

  Dred Scott sued in Missouri and a jury of 12 white men declared him as a free man and he was free. Two years later, the Supreme Court looks at his case and calls him back to court.  7 out of the 9 justices are pro-slavery and five justices owned slaves themselves.  Sanford's case is that Dred Scott can't even sue in the first place because he is a piece of property like a sofa.  If you bring a sofa to the north, you still own it, therefore, if you brought a slave to the north, you still own it.  Plus, you can do anything you want to the sofa and furniture can't sue, so that means Dred Scott wasn't supposed to be at court in the first place. They also said that the Congress doesn't have the power to ban slavery in the north and that the fifth amendment protects their rights, making it so that slaves were property not citizens. This was a real eye-opener to the north and they now fully understood how the Supreme Court was loaded with pro-slavery justices.  The decision infuriated the north bringing us another step closer to the Civil War.