Politics Of Slavery

2333 Words10 Pages
The Supreme Court and the Politics of Slavery and Civil Rights HIS303 August 15 2010 The Supreme Court and the Politics of Slavery Even though the Declaration of Independence states that all men are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”, it has taken the evolution of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions to progress towards equality in civil rights for African Americans. Decisions made in such cases as the Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, have developed provisions such as the civil rights act of 1964 which has helped bring African Americans equality. At first, equality probably seemed like a dream that would never come true for African Americans. Slavery was something that plagued early American history in the British…show more content…
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who was nominated by President Andrew Jackson and sworn in as Chief Justice in 1836 wrote the unconstitutional usurped ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford. Dred Scott’s case started in 1847, when he sued for freedom in federal courts based on his citizenship claim in free territories. “In 1852, Dred sued his master for freedom in one of the lower state courts and won the action, but upon appeal the decision was reversed by the supreme court of the state, upon the ground that Dred's status at home was fixed by state law regardless of what it was abroad-a decision which plainly ran counter to the whole trend of decision by the same court for the previous…show more content…
In order to bring this action Dred had, of course, to aver his citizenship of Missouri, which averment was traversed by his adversary in what is known as a plea in abatement, which denied the jurisdiction of the court upon the ground that Dred was the descendant of African slaves and was born in slavery. The plea in abatement the circuit court overruled, but then proceeded to find the law on the merits of the case for the defendant Sandford; and from this decision Dred appealed to the United States Supreme Court” (Corwin, 1911, p.52). In the ruling of the Supreme Court case Scott v. Sandford (1857), the decision was that Dred Scott was to remain a slave, and since he was a slave he is not a citizen of the United States, and because he is not a citizen he is not eligible to file a suit in a federal court. It is also decided that slaves are personal property and as a result have never been free. Furthermore the court declared that the United States Congress lacked constitutional authority in the provision of the Missouri Compromise, which prohibit slavery in the territories. This ruling made the Civil War
Open Document