Back to the outline
In the 1850s, the country was beginning to divide. Northerners wanted to see slavery abolished, while the Southerners wanted the instituion of slaves kept. On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court handed down its decision on the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott was a slave who had been taken by his master from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois. Later he had been taken to the free territory that is now Minnesota. Then he had been brought back to Missouri.
Abolitionists in Missouri decided to help Dred Scott win his freedom. They argued that, because Scott had been taken to a free state and to a free territory, he must have become a free man.
Each of the Justices of the Supreme Court issued a different opinion in the case. Seven of the nine Justices ruled in favor of Dred Scott's owner, John Sanford. Six of them agreed that he was not a citizen. Therefore, they said, he could not bring suit in a federal court.
This decision divided the nation even further. Southerners felt that they had won a great victory. But the Northerners started protesting more and more. Northerners began to be attracted to the Republican party, which was against the spread of slavery into the territories, and the abolitionist movement.
Back to the outline