Dred Scott Decision
1857
It started when Scott’s former master John Emerson had died and his wife Irene Sanford-Emerson hired out Scott and his family to work for other families. Since that happened, it caused him to file a suit against her for his freedom. In the 1857 Dred Scott decision, Chief Justice Roger Taney denied Dred Scott of not being able to become a free person in the state of Missouri (of the people). Taney said “Blacks, were not born into a class that qualified for these rights, and, therefore, even if they were native born they still did not qualify for U.S. citizenship (of the people). This case had lasted on a legal fight that lasted eleven years, and was finally ended in the U.S. Supreme Court (of the people). The Court had later issued a milestone decision that kept Scott as a slave. This decision contributed to rising tensions between the free and slave states just before the American Civil War.