Question

What did the Supreme Court rule in the court case Dred Scott v Sandford?

Answer 1

In the landmark case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, decided in 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, an enslaved African American man, was not a citizen and therefore could not sue in federal court. The Court also held that the federal government did not have the authority to regulate slavery in the territories, effectively invalidating the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had attempted to regulate the spread of slavery in certain territories.

The ruling was delivered by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who argued that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not considered citizens under the Constitution at the time it was written and thus had no rights that white people were bound to respect. This decision exacerbated sectional tensions between the North and South leading up to the Civil War and is widely regarded as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history.