March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court declared that all blacks are slaves as well as free and could never become a citizen of the United States. The case that was before the court was the Dred Scott v. Sanford. Dred Scott was a slave who lived in Illinois, a free state, and in Wisconsin, a free state, before moving back to Missouri, a slave state. Dred Scott went before the Supreme Court hoping to get his freedom. Dred Scott tried to argue that his time spent in those locations entitled him to emancipation. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a staunch supporter of slavery, disagreed with the decision that the court found that no black, free or slave, could claim U.S. citizenship, and therefore blacks were unable to petition the court for their freedom. ["The Dred Scott decision incensed abolitionists and heightened North-South tensions, which would erupt in war just three years later."]
http://www.history.com/topics/dred-scott-case
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