Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Dred Scott V. Sandford -1857

By Cisca and Nick
Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri, whose master took him to Illinois. Illinois was a non-slave state. Dred Scott believed that because he was in free territory, that he was a free man. In 1854 Dred Scott sued the federal court for his freedom. He was ruled against, but appealed to the supreme court. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the courts decision that because Dred Scott was a slave, he was not a citizen, and could not even file a law suit. The Supreme Court also ruled that African Americans are not and never will be citizens. Dred Scott remained a slave.
This is important because it created social unrest to all slaves and it perminantely diminished their rights as human beings. Chief Justice Roger Taney claimed that if congress banned slavery, it is a violation of the fifth ammendment because they would be taking away someones property without due process of law. This case ended congressional efforts to ban slavery in the United States. This was one of the major stepping stones towards the civil war.
Other Justices of the Supreme Court (Justice John Mclean and Justice Benjamin Curtis) showed that the Supreme Court had the right to "make all needful rules and regulations" and that the U.S. and State Constitutions considered African Americans Citizens.

5 comments:

cradlo said...

The first thing I noticed is the passive language.... too many linking verbs (was, is, etc.) and you used "it" to much. These words are vague and passive. Try using better verbs and less "it" and the sentences will flow and sound much better. They will be more fluid.

victor said...

I think that your language is actually very informative and straight to the point. I like the way you formated this essay. I was familiar with this case but I never really knew the details. You guys made it clear. I would suggest adding a image. Good job

Anonymous said...

Your post is full of interesting information and I learned more about this case. The only thing I would suggest would be an image.

Adam said...

I like the way that you concisely state the facts without adding too much fluff. This was a very informative posting about a much more ignorant time in our history.

Micaela said...

wow this was all new information to me. i really like it, it was straight to the point. there was not to much fluff so it was not boring to read. you guys did a good job.