Dred Scott v. Sandford
1857 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court denying citizenship to black citizens
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court held that the Constitution of the United States was not meant to include American citizenship for black people.
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QuotesEdit
- Judge Taney ... may decide, and decide again; but he cannot reverse the decision of the Most High. He cannot change the essential nature of things — making evil good, and good evil. Happily, for the whole human family, their rights have been defined, declared, and decided in a court higher than the Supreme Court.
- Frederick Douglass, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, May 1857
- Slavery lives in this country not because of any paper Constitution, but in the moral blindness of the American people, who persuade themselves that they are safe, though the rights of others may be struck down.
- Frederick Douglass, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, May 1857