The Case of Dred and Harriet Scott

The Case of Dred and Harriet Scott

In 1832, John Emerson worked at Jefferson Barracks as a surgeon. He really liked the job of a surgeon and looked for a permanent assignment at Fort Armstrong, Illinois. He traveled north with his only slave, Dred Scott. After they reached Illinois, Scott still worked for Emerson even though it was a free state. They then traveled to Wisconsin Territory where slavery was strictly banned. Scott met Harriet Robinson and later married her and had four children.

After Emerson died in December 1843, Dred and Harriet Scott were forced to work under Emerson's wife. Scott tried to buy his family's freedom but Mrs. Emerson declined his offer. They took her to court claiming that all of Emerson's rights had been forfeited when they went into free territory. The court had to figure out if the Scotts were still slaves and if Mrs. Emerson's abuse toward them was legitimate.

The case was hard to settle and raised some difficult questions. All the Scotts wanted, though, was freedom. The courts had said before that if slaves were transported through free states then they would be free. However, decisions towards slaves became harsh.

The trial began in June 1846, but the jury returned the Scotts to Mrs. Emerson since the trial did not specify their rightful owner. The case later went to the Missouri Supreme Court and split the state in two over the issue of slavery. The court decided that they would remain slaves.

Not giving up hope, the Scotts filed a new suit, Scott v. Sandford. Sanford was Mrs. Emerson's brother. Since the Scotts were appealing in a federal court, the question if they would receive national citizenship and their rights became very controversial. The court again determined that the Scotts would remain slaves. They then prepared themselves to take on the United States Supreme Court.

The Scotts case argued the question of citizenship while John Sanford's cases argued that antislavery laws were fundamentally unconstitutional. The Court postponed the trial for seven months. The questions if free African Americans were citizens and if Congress had the power to ban slavery in the federal territories became issues that had risen from the trial. The final step to the Scott's freedom was the presence of Roger Taney's. He determined that the Scott's would remain slaves, insisting that the