The case before the court was that of Dred Scott v. Sanford. Dred Scott, a slave who had lived in the free state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin before moving back to the slave ...

This Supreme Court decision attempted to settle the legal status of slaves in free territories to avert a civil war, but it provoked one instead. Dred Scott, who was born a slave in Missouri ...

no matter which way the case should be decided, make clear that this was one of those contrived “test cases” lawyers delight in. Dred Scott v. Sandford reached the high tribunal, on appeal ...

Taney is best known for his opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford, and Meyerson would like ... In Dred Scott’s case, the argument was that he had been taken to reside into a federal territory ...