This presentation was prepared for Deaf and hard of hearing students in MsAmyLC's social studies classes.

1. Dred Scott:
The Enslaved Man Who Sued for
Freedom in the Supreme Court

2. Who was Dred Scott?
Dred Scott was a man born enslaved.
He used the courts to try to become free.
He went to the Supreme Court.

3. Proslavery Americans
The Dred Scott story increased the conflict between

4. Proslavery Americans v. Abolitionist Americans
The Dred Scott story increased the conflict between

5. The Problem in the United States of America:

6. The Problem in the United States of America:
Laws Permitted Slavery

7. The Problem in the United States of America:
Laws Permitted Slavery
Laws Abolished Slavery

8. The Problem in the United States of America:
Laws Permitted Slavery
Laws Abolished Slavery

9. The Problem in the United States of America:
Laws Permitted Slavery
Laws Abolished Slavery
Dred Scott's question: What if enslaved people moved to free states?

10. Americans argued with each other about Dred Scott’s story.
Dred Scott's story explain how the Civil War started between free
northern states and slave southern states.

11. United States
Supreme Court
United States
Courts of Appeals
United States
District Courts
State
Supreme Courts
State
Courts of Appeal
States
District Courts
Local Courts
Understanding Dred Scott’s story helps explain the US Court System.
Local and State Courts Federal Courts

12. Dred Scott was born a slave in Southampton County, Virginia
around 1799.
He was owned by Peter Blow and Elizabeth Taylor Blow.
Dred was friendly with their children. (This is important later.)
This is a picture of Dred Scott when he was about 55 years old.

13. In 1818, when Dred Scott was a young man, he moved two
times with the Blows, their six children and other enslaved people.
First, they moved to a cotton plantation in Alabama. The Blows
were not successful farmers. They moved to the big city of St.
Louis, Missouri to work in the hotel business.

14. St.
Louis,
Missouri

15. Scott continued to work for the Blows for twelve years.
Later, the Blow family sold Dred Scott to John Emerson, an army
doctor.

16. Dr. Emerson traveled a lot with the army. He lived in free states and
slave states: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Louisiana & Florida.

17. In 1836, Dr. Emerson worked at Fort Snelling in Minnesota.

18. Fort Snelling:
near St. Paul,
in Minnesota, a Free State

19. At Fort Snelling, Dred Scott met a young enslaved woman, Harriet
Robinson. Harriet’s master permitted her to marry him.
Dr. Emerson paid for Harriet so the married couple could stay
together.
Harriet and Dred Scott, around 1858.

20. Dr. Emerson moved to Louisiana. There, Dr. Emerson married Irene
Sanford.
Dred and Harriet Scott stayed in Fort Snelling without their master.
They were “hired out.”

21. Slaves who were hired out worked
for other bosses and earned money.

22. Sometimes, hired slaves kept the
money.

23. Other times, masters kept the money.

24. Around 1843, Dr. Emerson and the Scotts returned to St. Louis,
Missouri.

25. In St. Louis, Dred and Harriet Scott were hired out again. They
probably were able to keep some of their money because they had their
own house in St. Louis.
But they were still slaves.

26. Dred and Harriet Scott had four children. Two sons died when
they were babies.
Their two daughters were Eliza and Lizzie.

27. In 1843, Dr. Emerson died unexpectedly. He was only 40 years old.
Dred, Harriet, Eliza and Lizzy Scott became the property of Dr.
Emerson’s widow, Irene Emerson.

28. In 1846, Dred and Harriet Scott filed lawsuits against Irene Emerson.

29. They filed their lawsuits in the Old Courthouse building of St. Louis.

30. Why did we sue our mistress?

31. Here are possible reasons why the Scotts sued for freedom:
1. Maybe they were tired of not keeping their hiring out money;
2. Maybe Mrs. Emerson was planning to sell the Scotts;
3. Maybe Mrs. Emerson refused when they offered to pay for freedom.
4. Maybe they wanted freedom for their daughters.

32. We lived many years in free states.
Why should we still live as slaves?

33. Courts in Missouri followed this law: “Once free, always free”.

34. We were not the first slaves to sue for freedom.
About 300 other slaves sued for freedom in
Missouri. About half were successful.
We thought we would win our case.

35. Local Courts
The Scotts sued at the local court level.
Local and State Courts

36. There were two trials.
The Scotts lost the first trial in 1847.

37. There were two trials.
The Scotts lost the first trial in 1847.
In 1850, the court in the second trial decided the Scotts must be free.
This court also said Mrs. Emerson owed the Scotts money she earned
from hiring them out.

38. Mrs. Emerson appealed* to the Missouri State Supreme Court.
*appeal = ask a higher court for a new trial

39. The Missouri State Supreme Court held a third trial in 1852.
The State Supreme Court decided the Scotts must remain slaves.

40. The Missouri State Supreme Court held a third trial in 1852.
The State Supreme Court decided the Scotts must remain slaves.

41. St. Louis Lawyer Roswell Field
He worked 6 years in the courts to
free the Scott family.

42. In 1854, Irene Emerson moved east near her brother. She transferred
her ownership of Dred Scott to her brother, John Sanford from New
York State.
Because the case involved people from two different states, it
moved from Missouri State Court to U.S. Federal Court.

43. So, we sued our new owner, Mr. Sanford, in our
fourth trial in Federal Court.

44. The Scotts lost their fourth trial.
The Federal Court decided that the Scotts were not citizens,
so they had no right to sue for freedom.

45. We appealed that decision in
our fifth trial in Federal Court.

46. In 1856, I went to the Supreme
Court in Washington, D.C., to
argue the case for the Scotts.
Lawyer Montgomery Blair

47. I used state laws and the U.S.
Constitution to convince the
nine Supreme Court Justices that
my arguments were correct.
Lawyer Montgomery Blair

48. Nine judges sit on the Supreme Court.
The Judges are called ‘Justices.’
The President appoints Supreme Court Justices and Congress approves them.
Supreme Court Justices’ terms are for life.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

49. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
The
Chief Justice
sits here.

50. Today, the Supreme Curt meets in this building.
It was constructed in 1935.
During the Dred Scott case, the court met inside the U.S. Capitol building.

51. The U.S. Capitol today.

52. The U.S. Capitol in 1850.

53. Today’s Supreme Courtroom.
The
Chief Justice
sits here.

54. The interior of the Supreme Court in 1857.
The
Chief Justice
sat here.

55. Supreme Court 2021
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

56. Supreme Court 1857
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

57. Chief Justice Roger Taney
Seven of the Supreme Court Justices supported the rights of slave owners.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

58. .
Chief Justice Roger Taney
I was born in the southern state of Maryland.
My family had slaves.
Enslaved people worked on our large plantation

59. Chief Justice Roger Taney
I emancipated the enslaved people who worked in my home.
Still, I believed slavery should be permitted.
In my opinion, Congress had no right to change slave laws.

60. In the Supreme Court, I argued
“freedom based on residence in a
free state was permanent.”

61. “A Negro of African descent could
be a citizen of the United States.”

62. But the Supreme Court did not
agree with my reasons.

63. On March 6, 1857, Dred and Harriet Scott finally received a decision
about their suit for freedom.

64. …the enslaved African race were not
intended to be included, and formed no part
of the people who framed and adopted the
Declaration of Independence . . ."

65. African Americans, free or slave, could not be
citizens of any state, that they were "of an
inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate
with the white race."

66. Chief Justice Taney ruled because of Scott’s
race, he was not a citizen of the United States.
Scott had no right to sue his master.

67. Justice Taney said Dred Scott was not free
even if he lived in "free states."
He also said Congress could not prohibit
slavery because he said it was against the
Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

68. Fifth Amendment: No person shall be
deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor shall
private property be taken for public
use, without just compensation.

69. Fifth Amendment: No person shall be
held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the
land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War
or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be
twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal
case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor shall private property be taken for
public use, without just compensation.

70. Fifth Amendment: No person shall be
held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the
land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War
or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be
twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal
case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor shall private property be taken for
public use, without just compensation.
lose

71. The Supreme Court’s decision:
Enslaved people were not free.

72. According to the Supreme Court of 1857, Dred, Harriet, Eliza and Lizzie
Scott were to remain slaves.

73. Americans argued with each other about the Dred Scott decision.
“A slaveholder’s instead of a
freemen’s constitution?
Never!”
(New York Evening Post)
“Opposition to southern
opinion upon this subject
is now opposition to the
Constitution!”
(Augusta Constitutionalist)

74. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Judge Taney, your decision is
WRONG! I quit!
Justice Benjamin Curtis was angry with Chief Justice Taney’s opinion about
Dred Scott. Justice Curtis resigned from the Supreme Court.

75. Many American leaders hoped the Dred Scott decision would stop
arguments about slavery.
It did not.

76. The Dred Scott decision helped start the Civil War
between Free States in the North and Slave states in the South.

77. The Dred Scott decision helped start the Civil War
between Free States in the North and Slave states in the South.

79. Slavery ended in 1865, after Congress ratified the 13th Amendment to the
United States Constitution:
Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist
within the United States

80. The Scott family did become free, but not because of the courts.
Their owner, Mrs. Emerson married again.
Her new husband, Dr. Chaffee, was an abolitionist.
Dr. Chaffee was embarrassed to be involved in the Dred Scott decision.
He convinced his wife that the Scott family must be freed.
Peter Blow, the son of Dred Scott’s first owner, was an abolitionist, too.
Three months after the Supreme Court decision, Peter Blow paid money
to the Chaffees to free the Dred Scott and his family.

81. For the next year, Dred Scott worked at Barnum's Hotel in St. Louis.
Harriet earned money washing clothes.
Dred Scott became famous because he sued for freedom.

82. Sadly, Dred Scott became sick.
He died on September 17, 1858, just a little more than a year after
becoming free.

83. Obituary for Dred Scott published in the St. Louis Evening News and Intelligencer, September 20, 1858

84. The genealogist Jesuit, Father Edward Dowling, rediscovered Scott's gravesite at
the 100th anniversary of the Dred Scott case. "We have in mind putting up only a
simple monument," he told the newspapers.
Father Dowling indicates Dred Scott's grave to John A. Madison, the Scotts' great-grandson, and his family.

86. http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/8967.aspx
John A. Madison was Dred and Harriet Scott’s great-grandson.
He graduated from law school. He was a teacher.
Lynn Jackson is Dred and Harriet Scott’s great-great-granddaughter.
She leads the Dred Scott Foundation.

87. The Dred Scott Foundation is
collecting money for building this
statue in the St. Louis Courthouse, to
remember where Dred and Harriet
Scott filed their lawsuit for freedom.