Explain why the Dred Scott decision was historically significant.

Question

• Explain why the Dred Scott decision was historically significant.
• Write a minimum of three paragraphs.
• Include at least three pieces of evidence from your research in support of your thesis.

Answer 1

Hi Naimah!

There are 5 parts to the Dred Scott decision

1) blacks were not federal citizens of the United States (slave or free)

2) therefore they did not have standing (the right) to sue in federal court

3) slaves were property protected under the 5th Amendment

4) since slaves were property under the 5th Amendment, the federal government could pass no law affecting slavery in the federal territories--Southerners could take their slaves wherever they wanted to

5) The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional  (the ruling also implied that the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act were unconstitutional)

 

Okay, so now you have to find out how Americans reacted to this--it'll be in your textbook:

1) How did Southerners feel about the decision?

2) How did abolitionists react to this?

3) How did Senator Stephen Douglas' reaction to this split the Democratic Party in the 1860 election?

Remember, the only way to change a Supreme Court decision is with an amendment to the Constitution!  The decision is a long-term cause of the Civil War.

 

Time to do a little reading and answer those questions! Good luck!

Ken H