Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

The decision denying citizenship to Black Americans, widely regarded as the Court’s worst.

Citation: 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857) · Court: Taney Court · Vote: 7–2

Holding

The Court held that people of African descent, whether enslaved or free, were not and could not be citizens of the United States, and that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories. The decision struck down the Missouri Compromise.

Background

Dred Scott, an enslaved man, had lived with his enslaver in free states and territories before returning to Missouri. He sued for his freedom, arguing that his residence on free soil had made him free.

The Decision

Chief Justice Roger Taney’s opinion denied that Scott had any standing to sue, declaring that Black Americans had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” It further ruled that Congress could not bar slavery from the territories, holding that doing so would deprive enslavers of property without due process.

Significance

Dred Scott is almost universally condemned as the Supreme Court’s gravest failure. Rather than settling the slavery question, it inflamed sectional tensions and hastened the Civil War. Its holdings were repudiated by the Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery) and the Fourteenth Amendment (establishing birthright citizenship and equal protection).

Source

Read the full opinion at the Library of Congress or Oyez.