LAD/Blog #19: The Dred Scott Decision     The Dred Scott Case (final decision) took place in 1857, and hurried the beginning of the Civil War. The case was over Dred Scott and his wife filing suit against Irene Emerson for their freedom. Dred Scott had been sold to John Emerson (Irene’s husband), and under him had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery had been prohibited due to the Missouri Compromise . In 1846, after being hired out, he filed suit for living in free territories without being granted freedom. He may have been dissatisfied with being hired out, about to be sold, or offered to buy freedom and was refused- any of these reasons could have lead to his pushback. John Anderson and the Blow family (Dred’s first owners) helped him during the litigation. In 1846, whether or not they deserved freedom was less important than considering property rights- if they were valuable, could they be taken away because of where the owner took them?     The Dred Scott...
 
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