As you research each case, make sure you find information about the background of the case, the original court decision, and how the ruling was later changed. Use this information to respond to the following questions. This section is worth 12 points. 1. Briefly describe the background of Dred Scott v. Sandford.

Dred Scott v. Sandford, was a court case between a slave and a slave owner in 1857.

ORIGIN OF THE CASE:

Dred Scott was a slave bought by Dr. John Emerson in the year 1833 from one of the African countries. Dr. Emerson who was a U.S Army surgeon was transferred to Wisconsin Territory. He moved with his properties along with his slave, though slavery was banned at the State Dr. Emerson continued to use Scott as his slave for 4years. In 1843 when Dr. Emerson died, he left Scott as a property to his wife called Eliza Irene Sanford.

THE COURT CASE:

In 1846 Scott saw him self as he someone who has laboured enough and wanted to buy his freedom from Eliza I. Sanford, but she refused. Dred Scott sued her at a state court. His argument was that, he and his family are legally free from Sanford because their now live in a state were slavery is banned. Which was his legal right to be free from sanford. Because Dred Scott case was genie, the state court granted Scott freedom from Sanford. However, Scott's wages had been withheld pending the resolution of his case. Eliza I. Sanford remarried and left the case for her brother John sanford who was not willing to pay Scott his owed wages. He appealed the state court decision at the appellate court. The decision was over turned in favor of Sanford . Scott then filed another lawsuit in a federal circuit court claiming damages against John Sanford, claiming that Sanford has physically abused him. His case was void because he has been over turned to be a slave by the appellate court. Scott now appealed to the U.S supreme court

FINAL COURT DECISION:

The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, lacked the justification to attend to Scott case, and therefore their ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. The Court also ruled that Congress lacked power to ban slavery in the U.S. territories. Finally, the Court declared that the rights of slaveowners were constitutionally protected by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S constitution because slaves were categorized as property and not living beings.

This court decision added more fire to the abolinionist movement, which led the civil war. Today the negro and others which ancestors are once slaves in America, has the right to sue a case in the U.S federal court as citizens.

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