Dred Scott Decision

     Dred Scott was a Missouri slave who was attempting to sue for his freedom in the Supreme Court. Though Scott was a slave, he had been living in an area of the land where slavery was outlawed under terms of the Missouri Compromise. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled against Scott on March 6 by the fact that African Americans could not be a citizen of the United States, regardless of whether they were free of a slave. The Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional there (the Wisconsin Territory), as Congress had no power to outlaw slavery there. While President James Buchanan expected this verdict to lessen the tension, he was proved wrong, as the Northerners took this to be yet another act that proved that the Southerners were conspiring against them in a "slave-power conspiracy." They thought the ruling was unfair and biased, as five of the six judges who voted were Southerners who advocated slavery.

     This resulted in the gathering of supporters for the Northerners and more and more people also began to believe that the harnessers of the slave-power was trying to dominate the federal government  and trying to use the Constitution to help itself.
 ←Scott and Taney→