Dred Scott Supreme Court Case Analysis

Throughout the mid-18th century, the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision became a key contributing factor in the separation between the Union and Confederacy going into the American Civil War. With the conflict of proslavery and antislavery groups fighting for new states, this choice became a debated topic within the detached United States for the effect it had in the slavery legal and economic system. Riots transpired and differences between political leaders and Court justices arose as the decision was made. Historical documents, like the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the U.S. Constitution, were used within this court case by Chief Justice Roger Taney to lead towards the defeat of Scott. The controversial U.S. Supreme Court’s decision …show more content…
The decision was even mentioned within the Lincoln-Douglas debates during the election of 1858. When Stephen Douglas gave a statement supporting the Dred Scott decision, his future as president of the United States disappeared and caused a split in the Democratic party while new republican president Abraham Lincoln came into office. This all foreshadowed, to what is known now as, the civil war between the union and confederacy. Murders, mobs, and economic problems worsen due to this decision for the division made between the people of the states. During 1856, mobs had burned out 50 families while also kicking out more. “Free soil” gave many immigrants the opportunity to thrive without having to compete with slave plantation owners who, at the end of the day, had more profit than “small, free farms”. This awareness of equality that the Scott v. Sandford decision kindled also allowed new court cases to form, dealing with issues of slavery. For instance, the Strauder v. West Virginia case, eight years later after the Dred Scott decision, dealt with black jurors being rejected from participating in