Dred Scott V. Sandford Essay, Research Paper

The Establishment and Exercise of Judicial Review

Dred Scott v. Sandford

19 Howard (60 U.S.) 393, 15 L. Ed. 691 (1857)

Vote: 7-2

Issue: 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, guaranteed by that instrument to the citizen? One of which rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified in the Constitution.

Facts: Dred Scott was a slave belonging to a surgeon in the U.S. Army. His master took him into territories in which slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Several years after his return to Missouri, Dred Scott brought suit in federal court to obtain his freedom, arguing that his temporary residence in a free territory had abolished his servitude. After an adverse ruling in the lower court, Scott took the case to the Supreme Court on a writ of error.

Supreme Court Decision: Judgment of lower court affirmed. The Court thinks the affirmative of propositions cannot be maintained. And if not, the plaintiff in error could not be a citizen of the State of Missouri, within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States, and, consequently, was not entitled to sue in its courts.

Opinions: Majority (Taney): We think [that Negroes] are not included and were not intended to be included, under the word citizens in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. Slaves are not citizens of the United States, and living in free states does not free slaves. The only two provisions [of the Constitution] which point to them [slaves] and include them (Article I, Section 9, and Article IV, Section 2), treat them as property, and make it the duty of the Government to protect it, no other power, in relation to this race, is to be found in the Constitution; and as it is a Government of special, delegated powers, no authority beyond these two provisions can be constitutionally exercised.

Dissenting (Curtis): At the time of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, all free native-born inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, though descended from African slaves, were not only citizens of those States, but on equal terms with other citizens.

Comments: By far the most significant decision of the Taney Court was the Dred Scott case. Sharp regional divisions, aggravated by the Court s defense of slavery, ultimately split the nation. Even though Dred Scott lost this case, he and his family ultimately gained full freedom in the State of Missouri.