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CHAPTER 15 • SECTION 2
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Dred Scott v. Sandford (1856)
ME CO
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Dred Scott v. Sandford (1856)
KEY ISSUE citizenship
KEY PEOPLE Dred Scott
John and Irene Emerson
John Sanford
Talk About It
Roger Taney
b. 1799, d. 1858; enslaved to John and Irene Emerson
“owners” of Dred and Harriett Scott; residents of
Missouri
executor of the Emersons’ estate (Sanford’s
name was misspelled “Sandford” by a court clerk)
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1836–1864)
• Why did the Dred Scott decision anger freesoilers and abolitionists? (The decision voided
the Missouri Compromise and implied that no
state could be a free state.)
The Case
• Main Ideas and Details Why did the
Supreme Court decide against Scott? (It said
he was property, not a citizen.)
John and Irene Emerson lived in Missouri. John worked for the
military, so he traveled, and when he did he brought his slave
Dred Scott with him. After the Emersons died, Dred Scott sued
their estate for his freedom. Scott’s lawyers argued that Scott
became free when he lived with Emerson in Illinois—a free
state—and in Wisconsin, which was made a free territory by the
Missouri Compromise.
CRITICAL THINKING ANSWERS
1. Summarize Scott claimed that he
became free when he moved to Illinois, a
free state, and Wisconsin, a free territory;
the Court ruled that he was property,
could never be a citizen, and had no
rights.
2. Make Inferences It further divided
the country; many slaveowners liked
the decision while free-soilers and
abolitionists were outraged and horrified.
RESEARCH &
Go online to explore
WRITING CENTER
more of the heated
debate at
ClassZone.com
History Makers
Roger Taney
Find links to biographies of Roger Taney
at the Research and Writing Center @
ClassZone.com. Before Roger Taney came
to the Supreme Court, he had freed the
slaves he had inherited. In 1819, defending
an abolitionist minister on trial, Taney
had called slavery “a blot on our national
character.” Yet in his decision in the Dred
Scott case, Taney said that, in the view of
the drafters of the U.S. Constitution, even
free African Americans “had no rights which
the white man was bound to respect.”
Although Taney made contributions to constitutional law and vigorously defended civil
liberties during the Civil War, he is remembered for the notorious Dred Scott decision.
Unit 6 Resource Book
• Primary and Secondary Sources,
pp. 36–38
• Historic Supreme Court Decisions,
pp. 253–254
494 • Chapter 15
History Makers
Roger Taney
1777–1864
Roger Taney was born in
Maryland, the son of plantation
owners. In 1831 he became
President Andrew Jackson’s
Attorney General. In 1835
Taney was appointed Chief
Justice in the Supreme Court.
Taney’s Dred Scott decision
helped cause the Civil War. As
the war came to an end, Taney
died, ironically on the same
day that slavery was abolished
in his home state of Maryland.
ONLINE
BIOGRAPHY
For more on Dred Scott v. Sandford,
go to the Research & Writing
Center @ ClassZone.com
The Court’s Decision The court protected and even expanded
slavery. It said that, as a slave, Dred Scott was property. He was not
a citizen; he would not be a citizen even if he were freed. He had
no rights; he could not even file a lawsuit. The court also said that
the Congress had no power to limit slavery, because any such limits
would violate the Constitutional property rights of slaveholders.
Historical Impact The decision meant that the Missouri Compromise was void, because Congress could not limit slavery in the
territories. Further, it seemed to imply that no state could be a free
state because states could not prohibit their citizens from importing,
owning, or buying and selling slaves.
Dred Scott thrilled slaveowners, while it outraged free-soilers and
abolitionists. By deepening the sectional divide between North and
South, the decision helped bring about the Civil War. Following the
Civil War, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed,
undoing the Dred Scott decision.
CRITICAL THINKING
1. Summarize What was the basis of Scott’s argument, and why did the Taney
court disagree?
2. Make Inferences How did this decision bring the nation closer to civil war?
494 Chapter 15
0
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION: TIERED ACTIVITIES
OBJECTIVE Create an exhibit on the Dred Scott case.
Basic
On Level
Challenge
Have students work in a
group to draw a large time
line about Dred Scott with at
least five entries. Encourage
students to research his life
in books or on the Internet.
Possible entries include
Scott’s birth, death, and
court cases.
Have students work in a
group to prepare a poster
that includes the court cases
in which Dred Scott was
involved and the significance
of the court decisions.
Encourage students to
research Scott’s court cases
in books or on the Internet.
Have students work in a
group to research newspaper
and magazine accounts
from the late 1850s of the
Supreme Court’s decision in
the Dred Scott case. Have
them prepare images and
summaries of these accounts,
and of their own opinions
of the significance of the
decision.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debate After the Dred Scott decision, the Republicans charged that the Democrats wanted to legalize slavery not only in all
U.S. territories but in all the states. They used this charge to attack individual
Democrats. Stephen A. Douglas, sponsor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, was
one of their main targets in 1858. That year, Illinois Republicans nominated
Abraham Lincoln to challenge Douglas for his U.S. Senate seat. In his first
campaign speech, Lincoln expressed the Northern fear that Southerners
wanted to expand slavery to the entire nation. He laid the groundwork for
his argument by using a phrase from the Bible.
PRIMARY SOURCE
“
‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government
cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the
Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it
will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.
—Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858
”
Later in the year, the two men held debates across Illinois in front of large
crowds. The Lincoln-Douglas debates are models of political debate.
CONNECT
To Today
CHAPTER 15 • SECTION 2
More About . . .
Abraham Lincoln
Born poor in frontier Kentucky in 1809,
Lincoln essentially educated himself, reading
books between farm work and rail-splitting.
His self-teaching, remarkable in itself, went
well beyond the three R’s—Lincoln actually
taught himself law. He was a private lawyer
and Illinois state legislator before moving
up to the U.S. House of Representatives.
So driven was the future president, his law
partner once likened his ambition to “a little
engine that knew no rest.”
CONNECT
To Today
POLITICAL DEBATE Before the first TV
broadcast of the Kennedy-Nixon Debate,
presidential debates were a rarity. In
fact, before 1960, the only presidential
debates that took place occurred during the
primaries in 1948 and 1956. Also of note is
that some historians think the widespread
use of radios in the 1920s and 1930s
increased voter turnout, while television
(from the 1950s to today) has not.
POLITICAL DEBATE
In the mid-19th century, large crowds listened to
candidates debate the issues of the day. Lincoln
debated Douglas seven times; thousands of
people came to listen.
The first televised presidential debate, in 1960,
featured candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard
Nixon. Today, millions watch televised debates.
These debates have strict rules—about the
topics, the length of each debate and its closing arguments, and so forth. In
contrast to the Lincoln-Douglas
debates, today’s live audiences
are instructed not to applaud
or make any noise while the
debate is in progress.
A presidential debate between
U.S. President George W. Bush
and Senator John Kerry in 2004
• Why do you think the TV broadcast of
presidential debates hasn’t increased
voter turnout? (Possible Answers: Many
people don’t even watch the debates;
others may not think voting matters or
that their vote can make a difference.)
CRITICAL THINKING Make Generalizations What factors might influence
CRITICAL THINKING ANSWER
your opinion of a candidate during a political debate?
A Nation Breaking Apart 495
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
Inclusion
Gifted & Talented
Lincoln–Douglas Debate
Posters
Daily Debate Practice
Have students design posters promoting
attendance at the Lincoln-Douglas
debates. Assume that the posters will
be put up throughout an Illinois city
or town, announcing that the two
candidates will be debating there.
Encourage creativity. Students should
come up with an engaging heading for
the poster. Other students might create
their posters using computer graphics
software.
Make Generalizations Possible
Answers: your personal views on
the candidate’s political stances; the
candidate’s sincerity and credibility;
whether the candidate is an engaging
speaker; how the candidate treats his or
her opponent
Unit 6 Resource Book
• Interdisciplinary Projects, pp. 31–32
Help students practice debating by
following these suggested steps:
• Brainstorm issues to debate. Assign
one issue to each pair of students. (Let
students decide who will take which
side; allow time to research the issue.)
• Set the format—how much time for
presentation, rebuttal, and closing.
• Have a different pair of students debate
their issue each day in front of the
class. Evaluate each debate as a class.
Teacher’s Edition • 495