The only book on
Dred Scott built around primary documents, this brief text examines the
1857 Supreme Court case - one of the most controversial and notorious judicial decisions in U.S. history - in which a slave unsuccessfully sued for his freedom. In addition to excerpts from each justice's opinion, contemporary editorials and newspaper articles, and pertinent excerpts from the
Lincoln-Douglas debates, the book includes a comprehensive introduction that provides background information on the slavery controversy in antebellum America. Helpful editorial features include headnotes, maps, illustrations, a chronology, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and an index.
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Background Information
In the Dred Scott decision, the US Supreme Court outraged opinion in the North by interpreting slaveholding rights as extending anywhere, including free states. Roger B. Taney was a distinguished jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court before the Civil War and is now best remembered for the Dred Scott decision. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas debated many of the issues that would divide the nation during their campaign for the United States Senate in Illinois in 1858.
