Paul Cooney
AP American
Mr. DeCarlo
19 November 2006

LAD 14- The Dred Scott Decision

In 1857, the United States Supreme Court ruled that all people of African decent, regardless of their role in society (slave or free) could become U.S citizens. The ruling also stated that Congress had no right or authority to prohibit slavery in any U.S territory. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the decision of the court. This began with the case of Dred Scott, a slave who had resided in both a free state and a free territory, and argued that under the Illinois’s constitution he was eligible to be freed. In April 1846, he sued for his freedom stating his case. The decision went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was ruled that the provisions of the Missouri Compromise were beyond Congress’s powers to enact. Because Congress’s actions were unconstitutional, under the Fifth Amendment, Scott was to remain a slave.