: The court ruled that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, were not and could never be citizens of the United States and therefore had no right to sue in federal court.
: It declared that the federal government could not prohibit slavery in any U.S. territory, effectively making the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. Dred.7z
: In 1846, Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet, filed a lawsuit in the St. Louis Circuit Court for their freedom. Their claim was based on the fact that their enslaver, a U.S. Army surgeon named Dr. John Emerson, had taken them to live in the free state of Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory (where slavery was illegal) before returning to the slave state of Missouri. : The court ruled that African Americans, whether
: Shortly after the ruling, the Scotts were sold back to their original owners, the Blow family, who set them free in May 1857 . Dred Scott lived as a free man for about a year before passing away in 1858. Other Potential Meanings Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) - National Archives : In 1846, Dred Scott and his wife,
: The case, known as Dred Scott v. Sandford , reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered a ruling that stunned the nation:
The "story" of Dred Scott is a decade-long struggle for freedom that ultimately helped spark the American Civil War.