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Dred Scott Vs. Sandford: The Supreme Court Case Of 1857

Dred Scott Vs. Sandford: The Supreme Court Case Of 1857

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On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court decided the case Dred Scott v Sandford. In one of it’s most controversial rulings, the Supreme Court decided against Dred Scott, a slave that lived in Missouri. Conflict over the case was one of the major factors leading to the civil war.
Dred Scott was a slave to army surgeon John Emerson. After buying Scott, Emerson moved to an army base in the Wisconsin territory, which was a free territory according to the Missouri Compromise. After Emerson died, Scott offered to pay his widow for his freedom. When she refused, he unsuccessfully sued her in the Missouri state courts, claiming that he should be free because he had lived in a free territory. When Mrs. Emerson left him with her brother, John Sanford, Scott

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