March/April 2007 issue
Dred Scott Display by 8th Circuit Library
by Joan Voelker, Archives Librarian
The U.S. Courts Library 8th Circuit has prepared
a display and booklet commemorating the 150th
anniversary of the Dred Scott decision. In six
panels of photographs, illustrations, maps, and
text, the exhibit outlines the chronology of Dred
Scott’s freedom suit during its 11 years in the
state and federal courts and conveys the impact
of this 1857 landmark decision on the nation.
The March 6, 1857 decision of Scott v. Sandford,
60 U.S. 393, authored by Chief Justice Roger B.
Taney, is considered by some legal scholars to be
the worst ever rendered by the Supreme Court.
According to scholars, Taney ignored precedent,
the Constitution, and history as he crafted the
opinion to settle the issue of slavery and the
question of African American citizenship in a
pro-slavery, pro-South decision. The court ruled
that:
• African Americans could not become
citizens of the United States and
therefore, could not sue in federal court
• Dred Scott's residence in a free state did
not free him
• the Missouri Compromise Act was
unconstitutional and void
• Congress did not have the power to
prohibit slavery in the territories
The Dred Scott decision intensified the conflict
growing in a country where slavery was legal in
the South and illegal in the North. Today the
case is considered by experts to have contributed
to the eruption of the American Civil War in
1861.
This case has additional importance for the 8th
Circuit because the case originated here. Scott's
travels from St. Louis to Illinois and to Fort
Snelling in Minnesota were the basis of his
freedom suit, and his suit was filed in St. Louis.
After running its course through the Missouri
state courts, the case was filed in federal court
with the United States Circuit Court for the
District of Missouri on the basis of diversity of
citizenship.
The federal court trial of Scott v. Sandford
(Sanford was misspelled in the case filing) took
place on May 15, 1854, in St. Louis. Federal
District of Missouri Judge Robert W. Wells
presided over the case. Among the display
images are those of each building in which the
case was heard, the docket entry for the federal
trial case, Judge Wells, and the nine U.S.
Supreme Court justices.
This exhibit was on display
in the St. Louis library in
March. Duplicate copies
are now on display in both
the Fargo and Minneapolis
courthouses. The display in
Minneapolis will travel to
St. Paul’s Landmark
Center, a former federal
courthouse, where the Federal Bar Association
will hold an event commemorating the Dred
Scott decision anniversary on June 13. The
display will travel to additional courthouses in
the circuit and to the African-American
Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa
in Cedar Rapids.