nov 6, 1857 - The Dred Scott Decision
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In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dred Scott decision, settling a lawsuit in which an African American slave named Dred Scott claimed he should be a free man because he had lived with his master in slave states and in free states. The Court rejected Scott’s claim, ruling that no African American could ever be
a U.S. citizen. The Court said Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court found that popular sovereignty and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 were unconstitutional.
The Dred Scott decision gave slavery the protection of the U.S. Constitution.
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