Dred Scott Flashcards
What was the Missouri Compromise of 1820?
The Missouri Compromise was legislation that attempted to balance the power between slave and free states by prohibiting slavery in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory.
What was the outcome of the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1857?
The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens and had no standing to sue in federal court. The Court also declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
Who delivered the majority opinion in the Dred Scott case?
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion.
How did the Dred Scott decision influence politics?
It galvanized abolitionist movements and influenced the formation of the Republican Party.
How was the Dred Scott decision eventually nullified?
The ruling was nullified by the 13th and 14th Amendments, which abolished slavery and granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
What was the significance of Dred Scott’s residency in free territories?
His residency in free territories (Illinois and Wisconsin) was the basis for his legal argument for freedom.
What was the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision?
It was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, and therefore they could not enjoy the rights and privileges the Constitution conferred upon American citizens.
Why is the Dred Scott decision considered the worst in the Supreme Court’s history?
It is widely denounced for its overt racism, judicial activism, poor legal reasoning, and crucial role in the events that led to the American Civil War.
Who was Dred Scott?
Dred Scott was an enslaved black man whose owners had taken him from Missouri, a slave-holding state, into Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was illegal.
What was the basis of Dred Scott’s legal claim for freedom?
Scott claimed that because he had been taken into ‘free’ U.S. territory, he had automatically been freed and was legally no longer a slave.
What was the Supreme Court’s ruling on Dred Scott’s citizenship?
The Court ruled that people of African descent ‘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.’
What did the Supreme Court declare about the Missouri Compromise?
The Court struck down the Missouri Compromise, stating that it interfered with slave owners’ property rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
How was the Dred Scott decision nullified?
The ruling was superseded by the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed citizenship for all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
What was the significance of Dred Scott’s residency in free territories?
His residency in free territories (Illinois and Wisconsin) was the basis for his legal argument for freedom.
What was the Missouri Compromise of 1820?
The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance. It also established the 36°30′ line, north of which slavery was prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase territory, except for Missouri.
