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Dred Scott: Landmark Case Denies Citizenship to Blacks

2/28/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Dred Scott, an enslaved man, and his wife Harriet filed freedom lawsuits in 1846 after living in free territories.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled against them in 1852, reinstating their enslavement.
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision declared that people of African descent could not be U.S. citizens and upheld slave owners' rights under the Fifth Amendment.
Scott was sold and freed in 1857, and he died from tuberculosis in 1858.

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Story summary

Dred Scott, an enslaved man, and his wife Harriet filed freedom lawsuits in 1846 after living in free territories.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled against them in 1852, reinstating their enslavement.
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision declared that people of African descent could not be U.S. citizens and upheld slave owners' rights under the Fifth Amendment.
Scott was sold and freed in 1857, and he died from tuberculosis in 1858.