6 mars 1857 - Dred Scott Decision

Description:

Dred Scott decision, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on March 6, 1857, said that a slave who had resided in a free state and territory which is where slavery was prohibited was not thereby entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States and that the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had declared free all territories west of Missouri and north of the 36/30 line, was unconstitutional. The decision added fuel to the sectional controversy and pushed the country closer to civil war.