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• Dred Scott Decision
  Dred Scott Decision

  noun

  ScottScott, Dred2
• Dred Scott decision
  Dred Scott decision

  A controversial ruling made by the Supreme Court in 1857, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. Dred Scott, a slave, sought to be declared a free man on the basis that he had lived for a time in a “free” territory with his master. The Court decided that, under the Constitution, Scott was his master's property and was not a citizen of the United States. The Court also declared that the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in certain areas, unconstitutionally deprived people of property — their slaves. The Dred Scott decision was a serious blow to abolitionists (see abolitionism).

Dred Scott Decision

American  

[dred] / ˌdrɛd ˈskɒt dɪˈsɪʒ ən /

noun

1. ScottScott, Dred2

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Dred Scott decision Cultural  

1. A controversial ruling made by the Supreme Court in 1857, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. Dred Scott, a slave, sought to be declared a free man on the basis that he had lived for a time in a “free” territory with his master. The Court decided that, under the Constitution, Scott was his master's property and was not a citizen of the United States. The Court also declared that the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in certain areas, unconstitutionally deprived people of property — their slaves. The Dred Scott decision was a serious blow to abolitionists (see abolitionism).

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Example Sentences

Slavery: Lincoln on, xii, xv-xvii; the Dred Scott Decision, 42; Lincoln the emancipator, 90, 91, 94, 96, 98, 152, 161, 184, 187, 221, 229, 232, 241.

From The Poets' Lincoln Tributes in Verse to the Martyred President by Oldroyd, Osborn H. (Osborn Hamiline)

By the irony of fate it was Chief Justice Taney of the Dred Scott Decision who inaugurated Lincoln into office, that Lincoln might later make Taney's decision forever null and void.

From The Battle of Principles A Study of the Heroism and Eloquence of the Anti-Slavery Conflict by Hillis, Newell Dwight

Senator Baker of Oregon—one of his old Springfield friends—formally presented him, and after he had read his address, the aged Chief Justice Taney, who had written the Dred Scott Decision, administered the oath of office.

From Life of Abraham Lincoln Little Blue Book Ten Cent Pocket Series No. 324 by Haldeman-Julius, E. (Emanuel)

The alienation of the Afro-American from his government was dramatically underscored and justified in 1857 by the Dred Scott Decision which was handed down by the Supreme Court.

From The Black Experience in America by Coombs, Norman

Douglas, Stephen A., Senator: Lincoln's opposition to, xvi; attitude of, on the Dred Scott Decision, opposed by Lincoln, 42.

From The Poets' Lincoln Tributes in Verse to the Martyred President by Oldroyd, Osborn H. (Osborn Hamiline)