Dred Scott, who was born a slave in Missouri, traveled with his master to the free territory of Illinois. As a result, Scott later sued his master for freedom, which the lower courts usually granted.

The main issues for the Supreme Court, therefore, were whether it had jurisdiction to try the case and whether Scott was indeed a citizen. The decision of the court was read in March of 1857.

In 1857, the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision had held that no black of African descent (free or slave) could be a citizen of the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment was thus necessary to ...

The group then cites six cases including Dred Scott v Sandford. The 1857 ruling came a few years before the 1861 outbreak of the US Civil War over the issue of slavery, stating that enslaved ...