Dred Scott v. Sandford was an 1857 United States Supreme Court decision holding, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, that people of African descent, whether enslaved or free, could never be United States citizens and had no standing to sue in federal court, and that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, striking down the Missouri Compromise. The ruling is widely regarded by historians and legal scholars as the low point of the Supreme Court's history: it deepened the sectional crisis over slavery rather than resolving it, and its holdings on citizenship and territorial slavery were overturned by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments after the Civil War.
Facts
Key ProvisionDecided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney's opinion held that Black Americans, whether enslaved or free, could never be citizens of the United States and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and further held that Congress lacked power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, striking down the Missouri Compromise. Widely regarded as one of the Court's worst decisions, it deepened sectional conflict over slavery and was superseded by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments after the Civil War. 1 Classification
Document TypeCourt Ruling or Judicial Opinion 1 Original Language Connections
Associated With
This source names United States directly: "Sandford was an 1857 United States Supreme Court decision holding, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Roger B."
Source Dred Scott v. Sandford (National Archives)
Drafted By
Source Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School: Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857)
Influenced
Lincoln publicly condemned the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision during his 1858 debates with Stephen Douglas, and the case sharpened his emerging national political profile in the years before his election.
Source Abraham Lincoln (Miller Center)
The Dred Scott ruling's denial of Black citizenship and constitutional protection deepened the sectional crisis that led to the Civil War and, within it, the Emancipation Proclamation.
Sources
1. Dred Scott v. Sandford (National Archives)
National ArchivesDocument type, descriptionQuote, Document type, description
Dred Scott v. Sandford was an 1857 United States Supreme Court decision holding, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, that people of African descent, whether enslaved or free, could never be United States citizens and had no standing to sue in federal court, and that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, striking down the Missouri Compromise.
2. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School: Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857)
Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law SchoolOpinion of the CourtQuote, Opinion of the Court
Chief Justice TANEY delivered the opinion of the court
Wikidata: Dred Scott v. Sandford
Wikidata Q690462, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)View the Source Dred Scott v. Sandford (Wikipedia)
In Group: United States Supreme Court Decisions Before 1900, Lead paragraphQuote, In Group: United States Supreme Court Decisions Before 1900, Lead paragraph
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held that the United States 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.
Abraham Lincoln (Miller Center)
Miller Center, University of VirginiaInfluenced: Abraham Lincoln, Presidential biography, Lincoln-Douglas debatesView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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