Question

Why did the Dred Scott case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857, come to exemplify the “American dilemma”?

a. The ruling denied an entire category of people—enslaved Black people—basic rights and freedoms given to U.S. citizens.
b. The case advanced the Asian American struggle against prejudice and discrimination by granting citizenship to these people.
c. The Supreme Court ruled against White enslavers, denying them the social dominance to which they were accustomed.
d. The ruling banned White ethnic Americans from well-paid industrial jobs, denying them the privileges given to people in other ethnic categories.

Answer 1

a.

The Dred Scott decision (1857) held that Black people—enslaved or free—were not citizens and therefore could not claim the rights and protections of U.S. citizenship. It exposed the contradiction between American ideals of liberty/equality and the legal reality of racial slavery and discrimination, hence exemplifying the “American dilemma.”