The Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott is not widely known, nor is his name very infamous, but the case he brought that changed the way our country saw slavery, is. Born in Virginia, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, with his owners in 1830. He was then sold to Dr. John Emerson sometime between 1831 and 1833. Scott lived for extended periods of time in Fort Armstrong, Illinois, Fort Snelling, Wisconsin Territory, Fort Jessup, Louisiana, and in St. Louis. Dred Scott lived for a total of 7 years in areas closed to slavery. When Scott’s decade-long fight for freedom began on April 6, 1848, he lived in St. Louis and was the property of Emerson’s wife.
Scott filed a declaration stating that on April 4, Mrs. Emerson had “beat, bruised, and ill-treated him” before imprisoning him for twelve hours. He also declared that he was free by virtue of his residence at Fort Armstrong and Fort Snelling. He thought that this would be accepted because the Supreme Court of Missouri had freed many slaves who had traveled...