Mr. Adams, and the list, needs a short lesson in Dred Scott and the history of slavery. As the history of the case shows, Mr. Adams is simply wrong. The case was decided in the Missouri Courts, which the US Circuit Court and US Supreme Court by upheld (although in different ways).
First Missouri was a slave state. Period. Its Senators and Congressmen voted with the deep south on most issues; it laws persecuted free blacks (like other slave states) and abolitionists risked mobs or prosecution for opposing slavery. In 1860 there were 115,000 slaves in Missouri. Why Mr. Adams would think (in a previous post) Missouri was not a slave state is beyond my comprehension.
Dred Scott's suit for freedom was in the Missouri courts. In 1850 he won a jury trial, based on 28 years of Missouri precedents that held that residence in a free state (Illinois) or a free territory (the Wisconsin territory -- which became Minnesota) led to freedom. In 1852 the newly elected Missouri Supreme Court overturned this decision in a remarkably proslavery opinion. At that point Scott was to remain a slave under Missouri law.
Because Scott had been acquired by John F.A. Sanford, who lived in New York a clever lawyer (Field) brought a case in US Circuit Court under "diversity" -- arguing that Scott was a "citizen of Missouri" being illegally deprived of his liberty by a citizen of NY (Sanford). Sanford was a Virginia native with business interests and property (including Scott) in Missouri. But he was a resident of NY at the time.
US District Judge Wells (who heard the case in circuit court and was thus technically the "circuit judge") allowed the case to proceed -- rejecting Sanford's argument that ever if free, Scott could not be a "citizen of Missouri" for diversity jurisdiction. Wells then ruled on every other important issue for Sanford and directed the jury to uphold Scott's status as slave.
On appeal the US Supreme Court reversed the ruling by Wells that a free black could sue in diversity, thus holding that Scott could not sue in Federal Court, even IF free. That left Scott a slave under the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court. (The Court mistakenly added a "d" to Sanford's name making it Sandford in the case name).
I hope this clarifies the issues here. If anyone want to read more, you look at the classic great book on the subject, Don E. Frehrenbacher, The Dred Scott case (which is very long) or my short book Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History.
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Paul Finkelman, Ph.D.
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, NY 12208
518-445-3386 (p)
518-445-3363 (f)
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www.paulfinkelman.com
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________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Philip Adams [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 8:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Dred Scott decision
Read Dred Scott;
The Supreme court ruled, not Missouri.
JP Adams
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Kilby
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 11:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Dred Scott decision
Mr. Adams,
The Dred Scott decisions was tried and handed down in St. Louis, Missouri. A
"nasty slave holding state." The old court house there is now an
African-American history museum.
Craig Kilby
On Dec 14, 2012, at 9:55 AM, John Philip Adams wrote:
> You need to cite Dred Scott. It was a court in a non slave area that
> held for Scott's owner, not some nasty slave holding state.
> JPADAMS
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