Memorandum
To:
Jill Lauderman
From:
Chandler Cavendish
Regarding:
Case brief on Dred Scott v. Sandford
Date:
February 17, 2020
Name of the Case and Citations:
Dred Scott v. Sandford,
United States Supreme Court (1857).
60 U.S. (19 How.) 393
Facts:
Dred Scott was owned by John Emerson and was taken by Emerson to Illinois where they
lived for two years. Emerson eventually passed away and Scott was then Under Emerson’s wife,
Irene. Scott brought his Master to court originally in 1852 in the Supreme Court of Missouri in
Scott v. Emerson. Scott’s claim is based on the fact that his late Master held him in Servitude in
the State of Illinois and also in Louisiana. When Scott came to Missouri he sued for his freedom
and had a strong belief that he would be freed because of the laws in Missouri that came from the
Missouri Compromise. The jury was instructed in accordance with Missouri law, and Scott was
not freed so he appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Taney said that all people of African descent, free or slave, were not United States
citizens and therefore had no right to sue in Federal court. He also mentions that No State can, by
any acts of law of its own… introduce a new member into the political community created by the
Constitution of tile United States.
