Dred Scott Case

Dred and Harriet Scott both filed freedom suits in St. Louis Circuit Court in 1846. Eleven years later, Chief Justice Roger Taney and the U.S. Supreme Court issued a verdict in the federal case of Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) that threw away decades of precedent and political custom and helped spiral the nation closer toward civil war. (By Matthew Pinsker)

    Date Title
    Washington (DC) National Intelligencer, “Decision in a Slave Case,” April 8, 1852
    Boston (MA) Investigator, “A Slavery Decision Reversed,” May 12, 1852
    Louisville (KY) Journal, "The Case of Dred Scott," December 27, 1856
    New York Times, "The Dred Scott Case," January 5, 1857
    Robert Cooper Grier to James Buchanan, February 23, 1857
    New York Times, “Slavery in the Territories,” March 7, 1857
    Boston (MA) Herald, “The Dred Scott Decision,” March 7, 1857
    New York Herald, "The Decision in the Dred Scott," March 9, 1857
    New York Times, "From Washington," March 9, 1857
    Boston (MA) Herald, “The Dred Scott Case,” March 9, 1857
    New York Herald, “Practical Effect of the Dred Scott Judgment,” March 11, 1857
    New York Herald, “The New Order of Battle,” March 13, 1857
    Boston (MA) Herald, “Dred Scott,” March 14, 1857
    Chief Justice Taney's Decision - The South Secured in Her Rights
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, "The Agitation of the Slavery Question," March 17, 1857
    Washington (DC) National Era, “The Rights of Colored Citizens,” April 2, 1857
    New York Times, “The Dred Scott Decision in the Ohio Legislature,” April 11, 1857
    New York National Anti-Slavery Standard, "The Chief Justice Insane!," April 11, 1857
    New York Times, “The Ohio Legislature and the Slavery Question,” April 22, 1857
    New Orleans (LA) Picayune, “The New Nullification,” May 2, 1857
    New York Times, “Emancipation of Dred Scott and Family,” May 27, 1857
    New York Herald, “The Late Abolition Revolutionary Proceedings in Ohio,” May 31, 1857
    New York Times, “The Emancipation of Dred Scott,” June 3, 1857
    A Condensed Report of the Unprecedented Case of Dred Scott vs. J—Sanford
    New York Times, "What the Dred Scott Case Decided," July 16, 1857
    Washington (DC) National Era, "Slavery in Oregon," August 27, 1857
    The Dred Scott Decision: Judge Taney and Charles Francis Adams on History
    Washington (DC) National Era, “James Buchanan a Mystery to Himself,” October 29, 1857
    New York Times, “News from Kansas,” November 13, 1857
    New York Times, “A Fugitive Slave Excitement in Philadelphia,” December 5, 1857
    Abraham Lincoln, Fragment of a Speech, circa December 28, 1857
    Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln, January 3, 1858
    Boston (MA) Liberator, "The Beauties of Personal Liberty Laws," January 8, 1858
    Salmon Portland Chase to James Shepard Pike, May 12, 1858
    Norman Buel Judd to Abraham Lincoln, June 1, 1858
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "The Supreme Court," July 16, 1858
    (St. Louis) Missouri Republican, “Our Work Is Done,” August 1, 1858
    Owen Lovejoy to Abraham Lincoln, August 4, 1858
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Campaign Press and Tribune,” August 10, 1858
    New York Herald, “The Illinois Campaign,” August 16, 1858
    New York Times, "Hot Work in Illinois," August 19, 1858
    Recollection by J.K. Magic, Ottawa Debate, August 21, 1858
    Schuyler Colfax to Abraham Lincoln, August 25, 1858
    Recollection by Horace White, Freeport Debate, August 27, 1858
    Joseph Medill to Abraham Lincoln, August 27, 1858
    Richard James Oglesby to Abraham Lincoln, August 29, 1858
    Norman Buel Judd to Abraham Lincoln, September, 1858
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “The Three Points in Douglas’ Creed,” September 7, 1858
    Recollection by Horace White, Jonesboro Debate, September 15, 1858
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Galesburg Debate,” October 9, 1858
    New York Herald, "Exhausted to the Dregs," October 13, 1858
    New York Herald, “An Abolitionist in a Slave State,” November 15, 1858
    New York Times, “The Political Future,” February 26, 1859
    Memphis (TN) Appeal, “Protection of Slave Property in Oregon,” March 6, 1859
    New York Herald, “The Anti-Slavery Tactics,” March 10, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Encroachments of Slavery,” March 16, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Beginning of the Presidential Campaign,” April 7, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, “A Cavil,” May 10, 1859
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Langston Sentenced,” May 12, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Respect for Law,” May 30, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Another Dred Scott Decision,” June 8, 1859
    Ripley (OH) Bee, “Untitled,” September 10, 1859
    Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Columbus, Ohio, September 16, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Mr. Lincoln in Ohio,” September 19, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “In a Nut Shell,” October 6, 1859
    Washington (DC) National Era, "Prohibition of Slavery in Nebraska," January 19, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Effect of the Dred Scott Decision in Iowa,” February 6, 1860
    New York Herald, “Seward’s Opinion on the Mexican Business,” April 1, 1860
    (Jackson) Mississippian, “The Last Revelation from Douglas,” April 3, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Infamy Complete,” April 27, 1860
    New York Times, “The Charleston Convention,” May 1, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Dred Scott Decision in Practice,” July 20, 1860
    Ripley (OH) Bee, “Mr. Lincoln’s Foresight,” August 23, 1860
    Ripley (OH) Bee, “The War of the Giants,” September 13, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “As Was Expected,” September 18, 1860
    Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, "Judge Taney vs. Douglas," October 9, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, "The Great Case," November 21, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, "The Prime Cause," December 8, 1860
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “North Carolina and Secession,” April 4, 1861
    New York Times, “Civil and Martial Law at Baltimore,” May 30, 1861
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    How to Cite This Page: "Dred Scott Case," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/9599.