Dred Scott v. Sanford

Hello readers,
I would like to start with some of the most controversial issues and cases that the Supreme Court has covered. To start off with I would like to talk about the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. While this is a very controversial topic I believe that it is very important because it brought a lot of attention to slavery and the way that African Americans were treated. In 1857, after 11 years of court battles, Dred Scott's case was brought before the Supreme Court. He was suing for his and his wife's freedom because they had stayed in Wisconsin for an extended period of time, which was a free territory. Many people thought that they would be released because of previous court cases in the cast. But, as it happened, most of the judges on the Supreme Court owned slaves or had family members who owned slaves. Chief Justice  Roger B. Taney said that the framers of the constitution believed that African Americans"had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever profit could be made by it." He said that African Americans were not included under the "all men are created equal".  The vote was split 7-2 and was decided on March 6, 1857