a missouri slave who sued for his freedom
Dred Scott
title: History of Missouri text: began that would decide the rights of free blacks and slaves alike: "Dred Scott v. Sandford". Dred and Harriet Scott, who were slaves, sued for freedom in St. Louis Circuit Court based on the premise that they had previously lived in a free state and territory. The case continued until 1857, when it culminated in a landmark United States Supreme Court decision. In the decision, Chief Justice Roger Taney and five other justices denied Scott his freedom, but also declared that no blacks were entitled to citizenship and that Congress had no power to restrict slavery in the territories. The title: History of slavery in Missouri text: Elijah Lovejoy edited an abolitionist newspaper, the "Observer", in St. Louis before being driven out by a mob in 1836. He fled across the Mississippi River to Alton, Illinois, where he was later killed in an exchange of gunfire with a pro-slavery mob. In 1846, one of the nation's most public legal controversies regarding slavery began in St. Louis Circuit Court. Dred Scott, a slave from birth, sued his owner's widow on the basis of a Missouri precedent that held that slaves freed through prolonged residence in a free state or territory would remain free upon returning to Missouri. Scott title: History of slavery in Missouri text: had spent several years living in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory with his owner, Dr. John Emerson, before returning to Missouri in 1840. After Emerson's death, Emerson's widow refused to buy Scott's and his family's freedom, so Scott resorted to the legal action permitted him under Missouri's 1824 law. Scott eventually lost his case in the Missouri Supreme Court, but brought legal suit again in 1853 under federal law. The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court and became a flashpoint in the ongoing national debate over the legality of slavery. In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down title: Marguerite Scypion text: considered mulatto under Missouri law. This was an application of a hypodescent rule that disregarded their Native American ancestry. Although the Territorial Court initially ruled in the favor of Marguerite and her sisters, the decision was reversed by a higher court. For 30 years, Scypion's descendants were held as slaves and persisted in their suits for freedom. They finally succeeded in 1836, after some family members had died. (See "Renewal of suits", below.) In December 1824, the Missouri General Assembly passed a law providing for enslaved persons to have the legal standing as "free poor persons" to sue for freedom title: History of slavery in Missouri text: was retained by the State Constitution of 1820. At the end of 1824, the Missouri General Assembly passed a law providing a process for enslaved persons to sue for freedom and have some protections in the process. An 1825 law passed by the General Assembly declared blacks incompetent as witnesses in legal cases which involved whites, and testimonies by black witnesses were automatically invalidated. In 1847, an ordinance banning the education of blacks and mulattoes was enacted. Anyone caught teaching a black or mulatto person, whether enslaved or free, was to be fined $500 and serve six months in jail.