dred scott

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Definition of dred scott in English English dictionary

Dred Scott Case, the

(1795-1858) slave who appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to achieve freedom (lost the case in a court decision that sparked major controversy between the northern and southern USA)

Related Terms

Dred Scott Case

an important decision made by the US Supreme Court in 1857. The case was brought to the Supreme Court by a slave (=someone who is legally owned by another person) called Dred Scott. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court officially decided that Dred Scott, like other slaves, could not be considered a citizen of the US. He also stated that Congress must not prevent any state from having slavery. These decisions made many people extremely angry, especially the abolitionists (=people who wanted to end slavery and make it illegal) and members of Congress, and the Dred Scott Case is considered one of the causes of the American Civil War

Dred Scott Decision

U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1857 that denied the civil rights of blacks while defending the rights of southern slave owners

Dred Scott decision

formally Dred Scott v. Sandford 1857 ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States that made slavery legal in all U.S. territories. Scott was a slave whose master had taken him in 1834 from a slave state (Missouri) to a free state and a free territory, then back to Missouri. Scott sued for his freedom in Missouri in 1846, claiming his residence in a free state and a free territory made him free. The opinion of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney declared that Scott was not entitled to rights as a U.S. citizen and, in fact, had "no rights which any white man was bound to respect". Taney and six other justices struck down the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional, maintaining that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories (see states' rights). The decision, a clear victory for the South, increased Northern antislavery sentiment, strengthened the new Republican Party, and fed the sectional strife that led to war in 1861

Hyphenation

dred Scott

Turkish pronunciation

dred skät

Pronunciation

/ˈdred ˈskät/ /ˈdrɛd ˈskɑːt/