Caption from poster__
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was an enslaved man of "100 percent pure" African
descent. Dred’s case was predicated on the fact that he was
taken by his master, an officer in the U.S. Army, from the slave
state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois and then to the free
territory of Wisconsin. He lived on free soil for a long period of
time. Born in Southampton, Virginia, in his youth, Dred Scott
was known as "Sam." He later changed his name to Dred Scott.
He moved with his master to Huntsville, Alabama and later
to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1831 his owner, Peter Blow, died and
John Emerson, a surgeon in the U.S. Army, bought him. He
accompanied his new master to Illinois (a free state) and
Wisconsin (a territory). While in what is now Minnesota,
around 1836 he met and married Harriett Robinson. In 1843
Emerson died and left his estate to his widow Irene Emerson,
who refused Scott's demand for his freedom. He then obtained
the assistance of two attorneys who helped him to sue for his
freedom in court.
Dred Scott (1795 – September 17, 1858), was an African-American slave in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, popularly known as "the Dred Scott Decision." The case was based on the fact that although he and his wife Harriet Scott were slaves, they had lived with his master Dr. John Emerson in states and territories where slavery was illegal according to both state laws and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, including Illinois and Minnesota (which was then part of the Wisconsin Territory). The United States Supreme Court decided 7–2 against Scott, finding that neither he nor any other person of African ancestry could claim citizenship in the United States, and therefore Scott could not bring suit in federal court under diversity of citizenship rules. Moreover, Scott's temporary residence outside Missouri did not bring about his emancipation under the Missouri Compromise, which the court ruled unconstitutional as it would improperly deprive Scott's owner of his legal property.
While Chief Justice Roger B. Taney had hoped to settle issues related to slavery and Congressional authority by this decision, it aroused public outrage and deepened sectional tensions between the northern and southern U.S. states. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and the post-Civil war Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments nullified the decision.
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