 In the 1850s , Fort Snelling played a key role in the infamous <unk> Scott court case . <unk> <unk> Scott and his wife were taken to the fort by their master , John Emerson . They lived at the fort and elsewhere in territories where slavery was prohibited . After Emerson 's death , the Scotts argued that since they had lived in free territory , they were no longer slaves . Ultimately in 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court sided against the Scotts . This decision helped to fuel <unk> over slavery leading to the Bleeding Kansas conflicts , the Panic of 1857 , and eventually the American Civil War . 
