Dred Scott was a slave living in the free territory of Illinois. Living in a free state, Scott with the help of abolitionists sued for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state made him a free man. The case made it to the Supreme Court and the ruling said that Scott as a slave was not a citizen. He was property and that property can be taken anywhere. The ruling essentially states that there was no such thing as a free state because slaves could be taken everywhere in the United States.